THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

Professor  Malbone  W.  Graham 


GiJ^e^vv^yv /"YVj, 


-WV.- 


or 


MUSIC 


HOW    IT    CAME    TO    BE 
WHAT    IT    IS 


MUSIC 

HOW    IT    CAME    TO    BE 

WHAT    IT    IS 

BY 

HANNAH    SMITH 

ILLUSTRATED 

NEW   YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1898 

Copyright,  1898,  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


TROW  DIRECTORY 

PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 


A/jL 

3  Cr 


TO 
MY    FATHER 


906321 


PREFACE 


THIS  little  book  is  founded  upon  various 
courses  of  lectures  which  the  writer  has 
given  before  audiences  of  students  and  ama- 
teurs during  the  past  few  years.  To  put 
them  into  this  form  it  has  been  necessary  to 
make  many  changes.  Something  has  been 
added  and  much  omitted.  What  could  easily 
be  made  clear  by  practical  musical  illustra- 
tion has  had  to  be  explained  by  mere  words 
and  an  occasional  reference  to  a  familiar  com- 
position, and  where  the  treatment  of  a  diffi- 
cult subject — that  of  temperament,  for  in- 
stance— could  in  a  lecture  be  aided  by  an 
adjustable  chart,  it  has  been  necessary  to 
forego  such  aid  and  trust  to  verbal  explana- 
tion alone. 

All  reference  to  individual  composers  has 
been  omitted,  save  as  they  have  directly  in- 
fluenced the  development  of  the  art,  and  the 
aim  throughout  has  been  to  trace  the  growth 


viii  Preface 

of  music  as  concisely  as  possible — not,  how- 
ever, by  mere  statement  of  facts,  but  also  by 
indicating  the  causes  which  have  led  to  re- 
sults— explaining  everything  so  thoroughly 
and  yet  so  simply  that  the  reader  with  no 
more  technical  knowledge  of  the  art  than  is 
necessary  to  comprehend  a  few  notes  may  be 
able  to  follow  intelligently  the  course  of  its 
development.  There  is,  of  course,  nothing 
of  original  research  or  criticism  ;  but  most  of 
the  standard  works  on  the  subject  have  been 
read,  or  consulted,  and  the  knowledge  thus 
acquired  condensed  into  as  few  words  as 
possible. 

If  the  result  shall  aid  any  lovers  of  good 
music  toward  a  more  intelligent  hearing — 
which  is  sure  to  bring  an  increased  love  for 
the  art — the  writer  will  be  more  than  satisfied. 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 


Musicai  Acoustics 


PAGE 

3 


Axciext  Music 


CHAPTER   I 


CHAPTER   II 


Medi.eval  Music 


26 


CHAPTER   III 
The  Belgian  School ,     54 


CHAPTER    IV 


Music  in  Italy 


68 


Contents 


chapter  v 

PAGE 

Evolution  of  the  Modern  Scale     .        .        .        -75 


CHAPTER  VI 
The  Opera 83 

CHAPTER  VII 
The  Oratorio 112 

CHAPTER  VIII 
Instrumental  Music 121 


CHAPTER    IX 
Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte      ....     148 

CHAPTER    X 
Development  of  Piano-forte  Playing  .  .176 

CHAPTER    XT 
The  Orchestra 200 


Music 


INTRODUCTION 

Musical  Acoustics 


ALL  sounds  are  the  result  of  atmospheric 
vibrations.  The  difference  between  mu- 
sical tone  and  mere  sound,  or  noise,  is  that 
the  vibrations  which  produce  the  former  are 
regular,  while  those  that  produce  the  latter 
are  irregular,  or  confused. 

The  reason  why  some  combinations  of 
tones  are  more  agreeable  than  others  is  that 
more  undulations  of  the  sound-waves  coin- 
cide. The  octave  of  any  tone  has  two  undu- 
lations to  one — that  is,  every  other  wave  of 
the  higher  tone  fits  into  one  of  the  lower. 
The  fifth  has  three  waves  to  every  two — that 
is,  every  third  wave  of  the  higher  tone  coin- 
cides with  one  of  the  lower;  the  fourth  has 
four  to  three,  and  so  on. 

In  combinations  which  are  excessively  dis- 
sonant, as  C  and  C  sharp,  none  of  the  undu- 
3 


4  Music 

lations  coincide.  If  two  sounds  of  equal  in- 
tensity can  be  so  produced — as  is  possible — 
that  the  elevations  of  one  wave  exactly  coin- 


cide with  the  depressions  of  the  other,  the 
result  is  silence. 

The  regular  vibrations  which  produce  mu- 
sical tone  may  be  excited  either  by  forcing 
air  through  a  tube,  by  agitating  a  string  in 
a  state  of  tension,  or  by  striking  a  resonant 
body,  such  as  a  bell ;  and  upon  one  or  another 
of  these  principles  every  musical  instrument 
is  constructed.  Strings,  however,  require  to 
be  associated  with  an  elastic,  sonorous  body, 
called  a  sound-board,  which  takes  up  the 
comparatively  feeble  vibrations  produced  by 


Musical  Acoustics 


the  string-  and  communicates  them  through 
its  entire  surface  to  the  surrounding  air. 

The  pitch  of  a  musical  tone  depends  upon 
the  rapidity  of  the  vibrations.  Very  slow 
vibrations  do  not  affect  the  auditory  nerve, 
and  the  pitch,  or  acuteness,  of  the  sound  in- 
creases in  direct  proportion  to  the  number 
of  vibrations  in  a  given  time. 

The  human  ear  can  perceive  tones  ranging 
from  about  sixteen  vibrations  in  a  second  *  to 
nearly  forty  thousand  —  more  than  eleven 
octaves — but  only  about  seven  octaves  are 
used  in  music;  the  musical  character  of  both 
highest  and  lowest  extreme  tones  being  very 
imperfect.  There  is  a  very  ingenious  little 
instrument,  called  a  syren,  which  measures 
exactly  the  number  of  vibrations  of  a  given 
tone.  It  consists,  in  its  simplest  form,  of  a 
tube  through  which  air  can  be  forced  in  a 
steady  current,  the  tube  ending  in  a  box, 
which  is  air-tight  save  for  sixteen  small  holes 
around  the  top  at  equal  distances  apart.  A 
tightly  fitted  cover,  pierced  to  correspond,  is 
made  to  revolve  at  a  regular  speed,  so  that 
when  the  holes  are  opposite  one  another  the 
air  escapes  in  a  series  of  little    puffs ;    and 

*  Below  that  number   the   vibrations  may  be  perceived   as 
sound,  but  not  as  continuous  tone. 


6  Music 

when  the  cover  of  the  box  revolves  once  in 
a  second,  producing  sixteen  successive  and 
regular  puffs  of  air  in  that  space  of  time,  this 
series  of  pulsations  gives  the  lowest  C  of  the 
great  organ.  When  the  cover  revolves  twice 
in  a  second,  giving  thirty-two  puffs  or  vibra- 
tions, we  hear  the  C  an  octave  above;  four 
revolutions,  sixty-four  vibrations,  give  the  C 
an  octave  above  that,  etc. ;  and  in  this  man- 
ner, by  means  of  a  registering  apparatus,  the 
number  of  vibrations  required  to  produce 
any  tone  may  be  exactly  determined. 

The  force,  or  loudness,  of  a  musical  tone 
depends  upon  the  size,  or  amplitude,  of  the 
vibrations;  the  greater  the  breadth  of  the 
sound-waves  the  louder  the  sound.  The 
quality,  or  timbre,  depends,  according  to 
Helmholtz,  upon  the  proportion  of  harmon- 
ics or  overtones  combined  with  the  principal 
or  fundamental  tone. 

When  a  string  is  made  to  vibrate,  during 
the  vibration  of  the  whole  length,  the  halves, 
thirds,  quarters,  etc.,  also  at  the  same  time 
vibrate  independently,  producing  in  rapid 
succession  certain  sounds  which  are  called  its 
harmonics,  upper  partials,  or  overtones — the 
tone  produced  by  the  whole  length  of  the 
string  being  termed  the  prime,  fundamental, 


Musical  Acoustics 


or  generator.  The  vibration  of  the  whole 
length  is  followed  by  that  of  the  halves,  pro- 
ducing the  octave  to  the  fundamental  tone  ; 


then  by  that  of  the  thirds,  producing  the  fifth 
to  that  octave  ;  then  by  the  quarters,  produc- 


ing the  double  octave,  and  so  on. 


Jt 


,.-  *m.  B*. 


^^E 


This  series  of  overtones  is  called  the  har- 
monic  chord,  and   every   tone   that   can  be 


8  Music 

sounded  is  the  generator  of  such  a  series.  It 
is  the  fundamental,  or  prime,  which  most 
strikes  the  ear,  that  determines  the  pitch  and 
intensity  of  the  tone ;  it  is  the  overtones,  or 
harmonics,  combining  with  it  in  different 
proportions,  that  determine  its  quality. 

With  the  ear  close  to  the  strings  of  a  grand 
piano  it  is  possible  to  hear,  faintly  sounding, 
this  series  of  harmonics,  or  overtones  ;  but  it 
is  possible  also  to  reveal  their  presence  more 
distinctly.  When  any  string  of  the  piano  is 
sounded,  all  the  other  strings,  or  parts  of 
strings,  which  are  related  to  it  through  its 
harmonic  chord,  begin  to  vibrate  in  sym- 
pathy— that  is,  if  they  are  freed  from  the 
dampers  which  usually  prevent  such  vibra- 
tions. If  the  keys  C,  G,  c,  e,  g,  bb,  are  struck 
in  succession,  the  tone  ceases  the  instant  the 
finger  leaves  the  key  ,  but  if  first,  by  carefully 
pressing  down  the  key  without  striking  it, 
the  damper  is  raised  from  the  C  C  string, 
which  gives  the  fundamental  tone  of  this 
series,  all  these  tones  will  be  heard  prolonged 
as  harmonics  of  the  longer  string.  A  proof 
that  these  tones  are  really  sympathetic  vibra- 
tions of  the  harmonic  divisions  of  the  funda- 
mental or  generator,  is  this — that  they  cease 
the  instant  the  damper  falls  upon  the  longer 


Musical  Acoustics 


string.  Another  proof  is,  that  if  the  same 
string  is  freed  from  the  damper  and  an  unre- 
lated series  is  sounded  (Cft,  Gft,  eft,  eft,  gft,  b,  for 
instance),  there  is  no  response. 

The  influence  of  harmonics  upon  the  qual- 
ity of  musical  tone  explains  how  the  touch  of  a 
piano-forte  player  is  able  to  affect  the  quality 
of  the  tone  produced,  even  though  the  finger 
has  after  the  first  moment  of  impact  no  lon- 
ger any  control  of  the  hammer.  The  over- 
tones develop  in  regular  order  from  the  low- 
est to  the  highest,  and  the  first  five  harmo- 
nize with  the  fundamental  tone  and  add  to 
its  beauty. 

The  higher  harmonics,  on  the  contrary, 
are  dissonant,  and  their  admixture  produces 
a  harsh  quality  of  tone.  A  hard,  stiff  blow 
of  the  hammer  on  the  string  develops  the 
overtones  rapidly,  so  that  the  upper,  dis- 
sonant harmonics  are  heard  before  the  funda- 
mental tone  dies  away ;  while  an  elastic  blow, 
with  flexible  muscles,  develops  the  overtones 
more  slowly,  and  the  sound  vanishes  before 
the  high,  dissonant  harmonics  are  heard. 
Piano-forte  manufacturers  endeavor  to  elimi- 
nate these  dissonant  overtones  by  making  the 
hammer  strike  the  string  at  a  node,  or  point 
where  the  string  divides  itself  into  vibrating 


io  Music 

sections,  and  by  various  other  mechanical  de- 
vices ;  but  the  touch  of  the  player,  also,  is  an 
important  factor  in  determining  the  quality 
of  the  tone  produced. 

The  overtones  obtained  from  the  strings  of 
a  violin  are  so  powerful  that  they  are  almost 
as  commonly  used  as  the  natural  tones  of  the 
instrument.  The  fundamental  tone  may  be 
extinguished  by  lightly  touching  the  string 
at  a  node,  and  entire  passages  are  written  by 
composers  to  be  played  with  harmonics  alone. 
Even  from  the  strings  of  a  grand  piano  it  is 
possible  to  obtain  this  effect,  though  the  tones 
are  fainter.  If,  by  carefully  depressing  the 
key,  the  middle  c  string  is  freed  from  the 
damper,  and  the  e  and  g  above  and  the  c  an 
octave  below  are  sounded  together,  the  har- 
monic g  will  be  distinctly  heard.  If — with 
the  same  key  still  pressed  down — f  and  a 
above  and  the  F  below  the  bass  staff  are 
struck,  the  harmonic  c  will  be  heard  ;  and  in 
this  manner  an  entire  melody  may  be  played 
with  harmonics. 

This  series  of  overtones  is  produced  also 
by  a  column  of  air  vibrating  in  a  pipe  or  tube  ; 
and  these  harmonics  are  the  natural  tones 
of  all  instruments  which  consist  of  tubes 
without   pistons   or   valves — being   obtained 


Musical  Acoustics  1 1 

by  simply  blowing  with  greater  or  less  force 
into  the  mouth-piece. 

The  organ  by  which  we  become  conscious 
of  these  vibrations — the  human  ear — is  the 
most  wonderful  of  all  musical  instruments. 
Back  of  the  membrane  called  the  drum, 
which  receives  the  vibrations,  and  the  series 
of  little  bones  which  transmit  them,  is  an  ex- 
quisitely sensitive  arrangement  of  nerve-fibres 
— a  tiny  harp  of  three  thousand  strings,  each 
tuned  to  a  different  pitch.  These  are  affected 
by  external  vibrations,  just  as  the  strings  of 
a  violoncello,  or  piano,  are  made  to  vibrate 
by  sympathetic  tones  of  sufficient  strength 
on  any  other  instrument  near  by.  When  the 
sound-waves  enter  the  ear,  the  tiny  string 
that  is  tuned  to  the  pitch  of  the  sound  that 
is  heard  begins  to  vibrate  in  sympathy,  and 
communicates  its  motion  to  the  nerve  which 
carries  it  to  the  brain.  With  this  marvellous 
instrument  we  are  able  to  separate  sounds 
that  come  to  us  all  in  confusion,  and  by 
training  and  attention  we  can  compel  our 
minds  to  listen  to  those  we  wish  to  hear  and 
be  almost  deaf  to  the  others. 

The  limits  of  hearing  vary  very  much 
in  different  persons.  Some  ears  recognize 
sounds  in  what  is  to  others  absolute  silence ; 


12  Music 

and  even  within  the  limits  of  the  average 
human  ear  there  are  abnormal  organs  which 
are  capable  of  perceiving  what  might  almost 
be  called  inaudible  sounds,  and  are  at  the 
same  time  deaf  to  sounds  which  are  audible 
to  everyone  else  within  their  reach.  The 
writer  has  personally  known  a  boy  who 
played  the  violin  with  pleasure,  but  was  ab- 
solutely deaf  to  the  song  of  a  bird — who  knew 
when  a  bell  was  rung  by  hearing  the  vibra- 
tion of  the  wire  that  was  pulled,  but  was  quite 
unconscious  of  the  sound  of  the  gong. 

This  inability  to  distinguish  particular 
shades  of  sound,  which  is  quite  distinct  from 
deafness,  and  seems  to  correspond  to  color- 
blindness of  the  eye,  is  probably  the  result  of 
an  imperfection  in  the  delicate  arrangement 
of  sympathetic  nerve-fibres  which  has  just 
been  described.  Some  of  the  tiny  strings 
of  the  little  harps  are  lacking  ;  and  perhaps 
such  a  physical  disability  may  explain  also 
the  absence  of  what  is  called  an  ear  for  music. 

The  faculty  of  hearing  is  susceptible  of 
cultivation  and  development,  just  as  are  the 
faculties  of  sight  and  mental  perception. 
Travellers  tell  us  that  the  lowest  savages 
cannot  distinguish  colors,  and  perceive  noth- 
ing in  a  picture  but  a  piece  of  paper  with 


Musical  Acoustics  13 

marks  on  it ;  and  teachers  who  labor  for  the 
education  of  such  races  consider  that  a  great 
advance  has  been  made  when  eye  and  brain 
acquire  the  power  of  recognizing  in  such  rep- 
resentations even  the  most  familiar  natural 
objects.  In  the  same  manner  the  ear  requires 
cultivation  ;  and  just  as  the  crudest  and  most 
glaring  pictorial  art  is  the  first  to  be  recog- 
nized and  enjoyed  by  the  eye  of  primitive 
man,  so  the  first  sounds  that  delight  his  ear 
are  those  which  to  a  more  refined  and  culti- 
vated sense  often  seem  harsh  and  disagree- 
able. The  aim  of  musicians  throughout  all 
time  has  been  to  arrange  tones  in  succession 
and  combination  so  as  to  give  pleasure  to 
their  hearers,  but  the  ears  of  those  hearers 
have  always  had  to  be  educated  to  perceive 
beauty  where  the  keener  instinct  of  the  mu- 
sician assured  him  it  was  to  be  found.  The 
early  composers  had  no  guide  but  this  in- 
stinct ;  they  simply  experimented  until  they 
obtained  satisfactory  results.  They  knew 
nothing  of  the  physical  facts  and  scientific 
principles  involved,  but  the  researches  of 
modern  science  have  completely  justified 
their  experiments. 

The  evolution  of  the  arts  which  appeal  to 
eye  and  ear  may  possibly  have  begun  simul- 


14  Music 

taneously,  but  that  which  appeals  to  the  hear- 
ing, being  more  subtle  and  having  no  neces- 
sary connection  with  practical  life,  was  in 
its  development  soon  distanced  by  painting, 
sculpture, and  architecture,  which  had  already 
attained  their  highest  perfection  while  music 
was  yet  in  its  cradle.  The  design  of  this  little 
book  is  to  trace  the  growth  of  this  youngest 
child  of  the  gods  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  to 
the  general  reader,  who  does  not  care  to  fol- 
low it  in  works  of  greater  volume  and  more 
detail,  some  intelligent  idea  of  how  music 
came  to  be  what  it  is  to-day. 


Ancient  Music 


THE  history  of  music  should  begin,  prob- 
ably, with  the  history  of  mankind  ;  but 
the  beginnings  of  the  art,  as  of  the  race,  are 
shrouded  by  the  impenetrable  mists  which 
preceded  the  dawn  of  civilization.  The 
myths  and  fables,  however,  concerning  music 
are  among  the  most  ancient,  and  the  art  was 
always  regarded  as  of  divine  origin. 

When  men  first  built  temples  and  dwell- 
ings, they  copied  the  columns  and  arches  of 
the  trees,  and  the  roofs  of  the  caverns  in 
which  they  had  lived.  The  first  painters  and 
sculptors  found  their  models  in  all  natural 
objects.  But  the  first  musicians — how  did 
they  begin  ?  Nature,  though  full  of  musical 
sounds,  has  almost  nothing  that  we  can  strict- 
ly call  music.  Bird-songs,  which  give  us  so 
much  pleasure  by  their  beautiful  tones,  have 
15 


16  Music 

seldom  anything  like  a  melody  that  can  be 
written  down  in  musical  notation.  Musical 
tones  are  sounds  resulting  from  atmospheric 
vibrations  which  are  both  regular  and  rapid. 
Music  is  the  succession  and  combination  of 
such  tones  arranged  by  art. 

Since  the  human  voice  is  older  than  any 
instrument,  the  first  music  was,  of  course,  ex- 
clusively vocal.  The  theory  has  been  ad- 
vanced that,  as  inarticulate  sounds  of  varying 
pitch,  quality,  and  intensity  are  the  natural 
expression  of  emotion,  men  sang  before  they 
talked  ;  and  it  is  a  fact  that  the  least  civilized 
tribes  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge,  those 
whose  articulate  language  is  the  most  limited, 
have  always  some  rude  songs  or  chants  ex- 
pressive of  grief  and  triumph.  But  musical 
sounds  are  not  exactly  music.  To  be  music 
they  must  have  regularly  graduated  pitch 
and  rhythm.  Now  the  feeling  for  rhythm — 
that  is,  the  regular  recurrence  of  accents — is 
almost  universal,  and  one  of  the  earliest  to 
find  expression.  The  baby  claps  its  hands 
and  moves  its  body  in  time  to  a  tune  with 
well-marked  accents,  and  the  undeveloped 
races  of  people  whom  we  call  savages  find 
the  same  sort  of  pleasure  in  the  same  thing. 
They  have  all  some  rude  instrument,  drum 


Ancient  Music  17 

or  gong,  with  which  they  mark  the  rhythm, 
or  accent,  and  to  the  accompaniment  of  which 
they  dance  and  sing  ;  and  something  of  this 
kind  was  probably  the  first  musical  instru- 
ment. 

But  all  nations  which  have  ever  so  little  of 
culture  or  development  have  definite  melo- 
dies, and  in  the  very  earliest  ages  of  which 
we  have  any  record  they  had  also  instruments 
capable  of  playing  such  melodies.  The  fables 
and  stories  which  antedate  history  tell  of  the 
charm  that  was  wrought  upon  beasts  and 
trees  and  stones  when  Orpheus  played  be- 
fore them,  and  of  Pan  with  his  pipes,  and  of 
Apollo's  lyre.* 

Kouie,  a  Chinese  musician  who  lived 
a  thousand  years  before  Orpheus,  said : 
"  When  I  play  upon  my  kin  the  animals  range 
themselves  before  me  spellbound  with  mel- 
ody ; "  and  in  one  of  the  first  chapters  of  the 
Bible  Jubal  is  mentioned  as  the  father  of  all 
those  that  handle  the  harp  and  the  organ. 
Now,  what  were  all  these  instruments,  and 
how  did  they  come  to  have  them  ? 

*  It  is  noticeable  that  in  these  myths  and  fables  the  wind  in- 
struments, pipe  and  flute,  were  always  associated  with  shep- 
herds, fauns,  and  satyrs,  while  the  stringed  instruments  be- 
longed to  gods  and  poets. 


i8 


Music 


Probably  the  first  idea  of  a  wind  instru- 
ment was  suggested  by  the  breezes  whistling 
through  broken  reeds ;  and  when  it  was  no- 
ticed that  shorter  reeds 
gave  higher,  and  longer 
ones  lower,  tones,  it 
would  not  require  a  great 
deal  of  cleverness  to  bind 
together  a  row  of  reeds 
of  different  lengths,  so 
graduated  as  to  produce 
a  short  musical  scale.  Such  an  instrument, 
called  a  syrinx,  or  Pan's  pipes,  was  probably 
Jubal's  organ,  and  it  is  from  this  simple  ar- 
rangement of  reeds  or 
pipes  that  the  modern  or- 
gan has  been  developed. 
Tradition  says  that  Mer- 
cury, finding  that  the 
filaments  of  dried  skin 
stretched  across  the  shell 
of  a  tortoise  produced 
musical  tones,  took  this 
as  the  model  for  the  first 
stringed  instrument — 
the  lyre. 

More  probably  stringed  instruments  orig- 
inated in  this  way.     In  the  early  dawn  of  the 


Ancient  Music  19 

arts,  when  the  poet  recounted  the  great  deeds 
of  the  nation's  heroes,  and  the  hunters  and 
warriors  in  their  excitement  twanged  their 
bowstrings  by  way  of  emphasis  and  approval, 
someone  noticed  that  strings  of  different 
lengths  and  drawn  more  or  less  tightly  gave 
forth  sounds  of  different  pitch  ;  and  so,  per- 
haps, Apollo's  bow  was  metamorphosed  into 
Apollo's  lyre. 

From  the  monumental  remains  of  Egypt  and 
Asia,  which  are  the  oldest  records  of  human 
civilization,  we  know  that  the  art  of  music 
was  early  associated  both  with  religion  and 
with  domestic  life.  On  the  walls  of  tombs  and 
temples  are  numerous  representations  of  in- 
struments, both  wind  and  stringed,  and  bands 
of  players  and  singers  under  leaders  ;  but  of 
the  music  itself  there  is  no  record. 

The  Hebrew  music  is  frequently  mentioned 
in  the  Bible,  but  we  have  no  certain  knowl- 
edge of  its  character.  It  was  probably  founded 
upon  that  of  Egypt,  and  its  introduction  was 
very  likely  the  result  of  the  training  which 
Moses  received  in  "  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
Egyptians."  We  know  that  for  the  temple 
service  there  were  regularly  trained  singers 
under  leaders,  and  that  the}7  had  various  in- 
struments, both  wind  and  stringed  ;  but  no 


20  Music 

authentic  melodies  have  been  preserved. 
Probably  they  were  not  written  down  at  all, 
but  taught  orally,  and  so  passed  on  by  one 
generation  of  singers  to  the  next. 

The  Greeks,  also,  probably  derived  the  ru- 
diments of  their  musical  art  from  the  Egyp- 
tians. So  much  has  been  written  by  their  au- 
thors upon  the  subject,  that  theoretically  we 
know  very  well  what  Greek  music  was  ;  but 
about  its  practice  we  know  very  little.  It 
seems  to  have  been  chiefly  a  sort  of  musical 
declamation — something  between  the  recita- 
tive in  an  opera  and  the  chants  in  the  church 
service — accompanied  by  a  few  tones  from 
the  lyre  and  flute.  In  the  Greek  drama  the 
language  was  sung,  or  intoned,  not  spoken. 
The  theatres  were  enormous,  roofless  am- 
phitheatres, seating  thousands  of  persons, 
and  ordinary  spoken  words  could  scarcely 
have  been  heard.  The  performers  even  wore 
masks  with  metal  mouth-pieces  to  add  to  the 
resonance.  The  poet  was  also  the  composer 
of  the  music  (the  Greek  word  is  the  same  for 
both  *),  and,  although  Greek  music  consisted 
of  melody  only,  the  system  was  so  elaborate 
that  years  of  training  were  necessary  to  mas- 
ter its  complications. 

*  The  musician  (musikos)  was  the  performer. 


Ancient  Music  21 

The  Greeks  had  a  system  of  musical  nota- 
tion, but,  unfortunately,  all  the  compositions 
of  their  most  brilliant  period — four  or  five 
hundred  years  B.C.  —  have  been  lost  or  de- 
stroyed. They  used  the  letters  of  their  al- 
phabet to  represent  musical  sounds,  but  varied 
them  in  many  ways — dividing,  inverting, 
turning  them  to  right  or  left,  etc.  ;  and  these 
characters  were  written  directly  above  the 
poetical  text  to  which  they  were  to  be  sung. 

The  Greek  scales  were  quite  different  from 
our  modern  ones.  They  were  composed  of 
tetrachords — groups  of  four  consecutive  notes 
comprising  two  whole  tones,  or  steps,  and  a 
diatonic  half-tone,  or  step  * —  and  two  tetra- 
chords joined  together  formed  a  scale.  A 
modern  scale  also  comprises  two  tetrachords, 
but  the  difference  is  this :  the  Greek  tetra- 
chords were  not  all  alike — in  some  the  half- 
step  came  between  the  third  and  fourth 
sounds,  in  some  between  the  second  and  third, 
in  others  between  the  first  and  second — 


*  Diatonic  means,  literally,  through  the  tones.  A  diatonic 
semitone  or  half-step  is  one  which  is  represented  by  two  degrees 
of  the  staff — two  letters — as  E  F  or  Fjf  G ;  whereas  a  chro- 
matic semitone  or  half-step  is  represented  on  one  degree  of  the 
staff — by  one  letter — as  F  F#,  G  G^,  etc. 


, 


22  Music 

whereas  in  a  modern  scale,  no  matter  where 
it  begins,  by  the  use  of  sharps  or  flats  the 
semitones,  or  half-steps,  are  made  always  to 
fall  between  the  same  degrees — 


i 


i 


=$=c 


=£=: 


i 


in  the  major  scale  between  the  third  and 
fourth,  and  seventh  and  eighth  degrees — that 
is,  between  the  third  and  fourth  degrees  of 
the  second  tetrachord,  so  that  the  two  tetra- 
chords  precisely  correspond.  Scales  of  one 
octave  beginning  on  each  of  the  white  kevs 
of  the  piano-forte  key-board,  leaving  out  all 
flats  and  sharps,  give  an  approximately  cor- 
rect idea  of  the  Greek  scales.  Our  modern 
major  or  minor  scales  differ  among  them- 
selves only  in  respect  to  pitch — the  intervals 
follow  in  the  same  order,  but  some  scales  are 
higher  or  lower  than  others — but  each  of  the 
Greek  scales  (or  modes,  as  they  were  called) 
had  a  character  of  its  own,  and  a  distinctive 
name.     The  one  beginning  on  D 


Ancient  Music  23 

was  the  Dorian  (which  Plato  recommends  to 
use  chiefly  in  the  education  of  youth,  because 
of  its  severe  and  heroic  character) ;  that  be- 
ginning on  E 


i 


was  the  Phrygian  ;  that  beginning  on  F 


the  Lydian  (called  the  mode  of  soft  com- 
plaint, and  considered  effeminate);  the  one 
beginning  on  G 


1 


was  the  Mixolydian  ;  that  beginning  on  A 


I 


the  dorian  ("  suitable  to  pleasure,  love,  and 
good  cheer  ")  ;  that  beginning  on  B 


i 


1 


the  Locrian,  and  the  one  beginning  on  C 


i 


-?r=. -g- 


(corresponding  to  the  modern  scale  of  C  ma- 
jor) was  the  Ionian.*     Each  scale  (excepting 

*  Lucien  says:    "  Each  species  of  harmony"   (by  harmony 
the  ancients  understood  what  we  call  melody)  "  should  main- 


24  Music 

the  last)  not  only  differs  from  the  modern 
major  and  minor  scales,  but  differs  also  from 
each  of  the  other  Greek  scales  ;  so  that  Greek 
melodies  must  have  been  very  different  from 
modern  ones,  and  with  these  scales  harmo- 
nies, successions  of  chords  such  as  are  now 
used,  would  have  been  impossible. 

Besides  the  diatonic,  the  Greeks  had  also 
chromatic  and  enharmonic  scales  ;  the  latter 
comprising  intervals  smaller  than  a  semitone, 
third  and  quarter  tones,  like  the  scales  that 
are  still  used  by  Oriental  nations.  Music 
composed  with  such  small  intervals  would 
seem  to  us  simply  out  of  tune.  But  Greek 
music,  like  that  of  the  Orientals,  was  founded 
upon  melody — upon  tones  in  succession,  not 
sounded  together  in  harmony — and  cannot 
be  judged  by  our  standard.  The  develop- 
ment of  Oriental  music  has  been  limited  ex- 
clusively to  melody,  and  the  history  of  mod- 
ern music  is  really  the  history  of  the  Euro- 
pean development  of  the  art.  Harmony,  as 
we  understand  it,  is  a  product  of  the  Occi- 
dent, and  comprehensible  only  by  Occidental 
civilization.      To     Oriental     ears    European 

tain  its  own  character  ;  the  Phrygian,  its  enthusiasm — the  Ly- 
dian,  its  convivial  tone — the  Dorian,  its  solemnity — the  Ionian, 
its  gaiety." 


Ancient  Music  25 

harmonies  are  positively  distasteful.  The 
best  Oriental  melodies  have,  however,  if 
we  do  not  insist  upon  measuring-  them  by 
our  standard,  a  charm  and  beauty  of  their 
own  ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  a 
people  with  so  keen  an  artistic  sense  as  that 
with  which  the  ancient  Greeks  were  en- 
dowed, should  not  have  found  more  beauty 
in  their  music  than  is  apparent  to  us  in  the 
few  authentic  specimens  that  have  come 
down  to  our  time.  Some  mediocre  compo- 
sitions of  the  second  century — composed  long- 
after  the  Greeks  as  a  nation  had  passed  their 
prime — one  or  two  fragments,  and  the  hymn 
to  Apollo,  more  than  two  thousand  years  old, 
which  was  found  quite  recently  at  Delphi, 
and  is  by  far  the  most  interesting  and  impor- 
tant known  specimen  of  Greek  musical  art, 
are  all  that  have  been  preserved.  Greek 
music  can  be  understood  only  in  its  connec- 
tion with  poetry,  from  which  it  was  never 
intended  to  be  separated — the  life  and  beauty 
of  the  melody  being  dependent  upon  the 
poetic  rhythm.  With  the  rhythms  we  are 
still  familiar,  but  the  melodies  to  which  the 
poet-composers  of  ancient  Greece  wedded 
their  immortal  verse  have  vanished  forever. 


II 

MedicEval  Music 


THE  history  of  the  European  develop- 
ment of  the  art  of  music  begins  in  the 
fourth  century  of  our  era  with  the  establish- 
ment in  Rome  of  schools  for  the  training  of 
choristers.  When  the  Church  emerged  tri- 
umphant from  the  darkness  of  persecution, 
and  her  service  was  conformed  to  a  definite 
ritual,  the  simple  song  of  the  early  Christians 
seemed  incongruous;  and  about  the  middle 
of  the  fourth  century  a  church  council  for- 
bade congregational  singing,  and  prescribed 
that  only  the  ordered  singers  in  their  ap- 
pointed place  should  take  part  in  the  service. 
From  this  time  the  choir  became  a  distinct 
feature  of  ecclesiastical  architecture,  and 
sinsfinpf  schools,  which  were  at  the  same  time 
orphan  asylums  (orphanotropia),  were  estab- 
lished in  Rome  ;  at  first  one  for  the  whole 
26 


Mediaeval  Music  27 

city,  but  afterward  each  of  the  greater  Ro- 
man churches  had  its  own  school.  The  in- 
struction was  limited  to  what  was  necessary 
for  the  church  service,  and  the  method  of 
singing  was  probably  antiphonal  ;  as  this, 
according  to  Pliny,  was  customary  among 
the  early  Christians. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  fourth  century 
St.  Ambrose,  Archbishop  of  Milan,  selected 
the  four  diatonic  scales  known  as  the  au- 
thentic modes,  and  decreed  that  upon  these 
all  church  melodies  should  be  constructed. 
These  scales  were,  apparently,  selected  be- 
cause of  their  severe  religious  character.  In 
the  heathen  temples  and  theatres  other  scales 
and  chromatic  music  were  used,  but  these 
were  forbidden  to  the  Church. 

If  tradition  may  be  trusted,  it  was  Greg- 
ory the  Great  who,  two  centuries  later, 
added  the  four  scales  which  are  called  the 
plagal  modes ;  *  and  in  these  eight  scales, 
known  as  the  Gregorian  modes  or  tones, 
were  written  the  Gregorian  chants  which  are 

*  It  is  thought  to  have  been  Gregory  who  named  the  tones 
after  the  first  seven  letters  of  the  Roman  alphabet,  and  as  the 
lowest  tone  of  the  first  of  the  plagal  scales,  which  he  introduced, 
is  A,  this  would  explain  why  this  tone  has  the  first  letter  of  the 
alphabet. 


28  Music 

still  sung  in  Roman  and  Episcopal  churches. 
These  scales  were  named  from  the  Greek 
scales  upon  which  they  are  founded  ;  the  pla- 
gal,  ranging  a  fourth  lower  than  the  authen- 
tic, being  distinguished  by  the  prefix  hypo. 

Dorian. 


Hypodorian. 

Phrygian. 


1 

1 

a. 

— G>— 

! 

J\  -&- 

-&>- 

°  °  " 

\ 

Hypophrygian. 

Lydian. 

f 

1 

— <s> — 

£2    . 

1 

— <S> 

«jl  ■&- 

s> 

<s>        "   — — — 
— <s, ca_ 

i 

Hypolydian. 

Mixolydian. 

! 

1 

Hypomixolydian. 

The  plagal  and  authentic  scales  differ  in 
more  than  their  range — which,  indeed,  is  in 
some  cases  identical.  The  Dorian  mode, 
authentic,  and  the  Mixolydian,  plagal,  both 
range  from  D  to  D,  and  in  both  the  semi- 
tones fall  between  the  second  and  third,  and 


Mediaeval  Music  29 

sixth  and  seventh  degrees.  But  the  final  of 
the  latter  mode — that  is,  the  tone  on  which 
the  melody  seems  to  rest,  and  on  which  it 
almost  always  closes  (corresponding  to  the 
modern  tonic) — lies  in  the  middle  of  the  se- 
ries; whereas  in  the  Dorian  mode,  authentic, 
it  is  at  the  beginning.  So  that  while  the 
Dorian  mode,  authentic,  would  be  from  D, 
the  final  or  tonic,  to  its  octave,  the  Mixoly- 

Dorian,  authentic. 


I 


1 


Final.  Final.  Final. 

dian,  plagal,  would  begin  on  G,  its  final  or 
tonic,  and  extend  a  fifth  above  and  a  fourth 
below. 

Mixolydian,  plagal. 


?N 


Final.  Final.  Final. 

The  plagal  and  authentic  forms  differ  very 
much  in  character — plagal  melodies  being 
generally  quieter  and  less  decided  than  those 
in  the  authentic  forms — and  this  difference 
was  always  recognized  by  mediaeval  writers, 
who  characterized  all  these  scales  by  special 
adjectives.  The  same  difference,  as  regards 
character,  exists  also  between  the  plagal  and 


3° 


Music 


authentic  forms  of  modern  scales.     The  Old 
Hundredth  is  a  plagal  melody,  with  the  tonic 


•--.*=?: 


i 


m 


in  the  middle  of  its  range,  and  this  vigorous 
old  tune  (Antioch)  is  authentic,  ranging  from 
tonic  to  tonic. 


The  Gregorian  chants  were  soon  in  use 
all  over  Christendom.  Trained  singers  and 
teachers  were  sent  from  Rome  to  found  and 
encourage  a  pure  style  of  church  music  in 
other  countries,  and  variations  from  the  es- 
tablished system  were  restrained  by  ecclesi- 
astical authority. 

The  organ — but  not  by  any  means  such  an 
instrument  as  that  with  which  we  are  famil- 
iar— was   probably  first  used  in    the  church 


Mediaeval  Music  31 

service  in  the  seventh  century.  In  early  days 
the  organ  was  quite  a  common  musical  in- 
strument. There  were  little  organs,  called 
portatives,  hung  by  a  strap  around  the  neck 
and  played  with  one  hand  while  the  other 
managed  the  wind-supply  by  a  bellows  ;  and 
larger  ones,  called  positives  and  regals,  which 
were  played  with  both  hands  while  the  wind 
was  pumped  in  by  the  feet  of  the  player,  or 
by  another  person ;  and  still  larger  ones 
that  required  several  persons  to  supply  the 
wind.  The  organ  in  Winchester  Cathedral, 
which  was  built  in  the  tenth  century,  had 
four  hundred  pipes  and  twenty-six  bellows, 
the  management  of  which  required  seventy 
strong  men*  and  two  players,  although  the 
instrument  had  but  ten  keys. 

The  earliest  organs  had  no  key-boards,  but 
were  played  by  means  of  slides  which,  being 
pulled  out  or  pushed  in,  admitted  the  wind 
to  the  pipes  or  shut  it  off ;  and  these  slides 
were  marked  with  letters  corresponding  to 
the  tone  of  the  pipe.  Toward  the  end  of  the 
tenth   century  huge  keys,  or  rather  levers, 


*  Who,  as  the  monk  who  describes  the  instrument  naively 
observes,  "perspired  uncommonly  by  the  exertion,  and  en- 
couraged one  another  to  persevere  in  the  work." 


32  Music 

were  substituted  for  the  slides;  and  this  was 
the  first  step  toward  the  key-board  which  has 
since  been  applied,  not  only  to  the  organ,  but 
to  a  long  line  of  instruments  culminating  in 
the  modern  grand  piano-forte.  These  keys 
— which  also  were  often  lettered — were  four 
or  five  inches  wide,  and  were  played  by  means 
of  hard  blows  with  the  gloved  fist,  or  even  by 
pressure  with  the  elbows.  Of  course,  on  such 
an  instrument  there  could  be  no  real  playing. 
It  was  only  possible  to  produce  single  tones 
to  accompany  the  chants,  or  plain  song,  as 
they  were  called,  in  unison.  It  was  not  until 
the  fourteenth  century  that  an  organ  was 
constructed  on  which  playing,  in  any  sense 
of  the  word,  was  really  possible. 

The  first  attempts  to  record  musical  sounds 
were  by  the  use  of  letters,  and  the  earliest 
known  musical  symbols  are  the  first  eight 
letters  of  the  Greek  alphabet.  But  as  Greek 
music  became  more  and  more  elaborate  the 
whole  alphabet  was  soon  exhausted,  so  that  it 
was  necessary  to  modify  the  letters  by  accents 
and  changes  of  position ;  and  the  system  be- 
came finally  exceedingly  complicated,  com- 
prising, theoretically  at  least,  almost  fifteen 
hundred  different  characters.     These  charac- 


Mediaeval  Music  33 

ters,  which  were  written  directly  above  the 
poetic  text,  indicated  only  the  pitch  of  the 
melody  ;  the  rhythm  of  Greek  music  being 
determined  by  the  rhythm  of  the  poetry. 

The  Greek  system  was  succeeded  by  the 
much  simpler  use  of  Roman  letters  applied  in 
alphabetical  order  to  the  degrees  of  the  scale; 
and  these  letters  are  still  used  as  names  for 
those  degrees  and  for  the  lines  and  spaces 
of  the  staff.     Letters 

were    used   in    nota-    *^*\  7l/7/%%  C\  0 /£ 
tion    till    about    the 
eighth  century,  when    - 

they  were  supersed-  /*^v  «/j  Y\  cc  uuwd 
ed  by  an  entirely  new 

series  of  characters  called  '  neumae.'  These 
neumae  were  written,  as  the  letters  had  been, 
above  the  syllables  to  which  they  were  to  be 
sung,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  to  indicate  the 

dS    A//X/.  /  Jtr»>  A  /A  ?>/lP/l  •  sA 

V2c-~  mint'  tt»w    turn  -hi  um  cr  crei  buu    tuv  tt  tt . 

/JlJt  AAAjl.  /M£S »>AA/ ii»y  A / ATJt 4** 

mm  — bie  — -r wacm  * ter-r-rt  xw- gum  a. Co 


Aff  PUmL.  £  sfvAr-vr,s>.   .  AAr 
inni  tnu—  m^-w-  a  t *■ vi a* 


34  Music 

rise  and  fall  of  the  melody.  This  was  an  im- 
provement; but  as  the  neumas  indicated  the 
pitch  less  definitely  than  the  letters,  thev  were 

fcr  jice  aref  jiif  meof  iuje  mitif 

a  less  certain  guide  as  to  the  interval  by  which 
the  voice  was  to  ascend  or  descend.  But 
about  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century  a 


omuttf  mfc  uf 


still  greater  improvement  was  introduced.  A 
long ,  red  line  was  drawn  horizontally  across 
the  parchment,  and  all  neumae  placed  directly 


Mediaeval  Music 


35 


upon  this  line  were  understood  to  represent 
the  note  F ;  the  highest  F  in  the  bass  of  our 
modern  system.  The  position  of  one  note  be- 
ing thus  absolutely  fixed,  that  of  all  the  others 
was  rendered  much  more  definite ;  and  this 
new  plan  met  with  so  much  favor  that  a  yel- 
low line,  to  represent  C  (middle  C  of  the 
piano -forte  key-board),  was  soon  added. 
When  the  lines  were  drawn  in  black,  the 
letters  F  and  C  were  placed  at  the  begin- 
ning, and  so  originated  the  clef  signatures, 


ffr^T 


which  are   merely  modifications  of  the   old 
Gothic  letters. 


i^ 


E3f: 


3QE 


W 


VARIOUS   FORMS    OF   THE   F    CLEF 


z^mmmm 


VARIOUS    FORMS    OF   THE   C   CLEF 


Efi 


=ft=fe=tk=$> 


w 


VARIOUS   FORMS   OF   THE   G   CLEF 


36  Music 

In  the  tenth  century  a  Flemish  monk  named 
Hucbald,  or  Hucbaldus,  introduced  a  greater 
number  of  lines;  writing  the  syllables  to  be 
sung  in  the  spaces  between  them  and  the  let- 
ter T  or  S  (tonus  or  semitonus)  at  the   be- 


T  — 
T 


ttL 


U 


€c\ 


[STft 


T 

T 


cc\ 


J 


VCT«i 


ginning  of  each  line,  to  show  whether  the  in- 
terval was  a  tone  or  a  semitone.  About  the 
same  time,  also,  another  stave  was  invented, 
the   spaces   of    which  were   left  vacant;  the 

0 . 

H . 

X  — * . 

e . — . . 

V$    0 — . * 

*y         •  *    *   •  — ■ 

J3     m  • « •  ■■ 

&    _♦ , ^ 


Mediaeval  Music  37 

notes  being  indicated  by  points  or  dots  upon 
the  lines,  and  the  actual  degrees  of  the  scale 
by  Greek  letters  at  the  beginning.  The  com- 
bination and  modification  of  these  ideas  seem 
to  have  resulted  in  drawing  a  four-lined  stave 
and  writing  the  neumae  on  alternate  lines 
and  spaces. 


This  invention  is  generally,  though  without 
sufficient  proof,  ascribed  to  Guido  d'Arezzo 
— a  Benedictine  monk  who  lived  in  the  elev- 
enth century — to  whose  book,  the  '  Microlo- 
gus,'  we  are  indebted  for  much  information 
concerning  the  music  of  his  time.  Guido, 
who  was  a  practical  musician  with  a  decided 
talent  for  teaching,  aroused  much  jealousy 
and  dislike  among  his  fellow-teachers  by  his 
superior  cleverness  and  openly  expressed 
dissatisfaction  with  their  methods.  "  When 
the  little  boys,"  says  Guido,  "  have  finally 
learned  to  read  the  Psalter,  they  can  read 
all  other  books,  and  even  the  common  la- 
borers learn  their  work  once  for  all — who- 
ever has  once  trimmed  a  vine  or  planted  a 
tree  will  be  able  to  do  it  again  as  well,  or  bet- 


38  Music 

ter ;  these  wonderful  singing  teachers,  how- 
ever, and  their  scholars  may  sing  every  day 
for  a  hundred  years  and  yet  will  not  be  able 
to  sing  the  smallest  response  without  instruc- 
tion. How  can  anyone  who  cannot  sing  a 
new  melody  correctly  at  sight  call  himself  a 
singer  or  musician?" — and  in  another  place  : 
"  In  the  church  service  it  often  sounds,  not  as 
if  we  were  praising  God,  but  rather  quarrel- 
ling among  ourselves." 

Guido  set  to  work  to  establish  a  better 
method  of  teaching,  and  in  a  month's  time 
the  boys  were  able  to  sing  at  sight  absolutely 
new  melodies  —  to  the  great  amazement  of 
the  hearers.  His  envious  and  jealous  fellow- 
monks,  however,  succeeded  in  having  Guido 
formally  expelled  from  the  convent ;  but  after 
a  time  the  pope,  having  heard  of  his  wonder- 
ful new  system  of  teaching,  invited  him  to 
Rome.  Guido  explained  his  method  so  suc- 
cessfully that  the  pope  himself  was  able  to 
sing  at  sight  a  musical  phrase,  and  Guido  was 
invited  to  remain  in  Rome  and  found  a  sing- 
ing school  for  the  clergy.  Unfortunately, 
however,  he  could  not  endure  the  Roman  cli- 
mate ;  he  fell  ill  and  had  to  leave  the  city. 
But  after  being  so  honored  by  the  head  of  the 
Church  he  thought  it  a  favorable  moment  to 


Mediaeval  Music  39 

return  to  his  convent  ;  and  this  time,  as  he 
naively,  or  sarcastically,  remarks,  the  abbot 
was  convinced  of  the  excellence  of  his  meth- 
ods— all  of  which  we  know  from  Guido's  let- 
ters to  his  friend,  Brother  Michael. 

In  one  of  these  letters  he  explains  the 
method  of  teaching  which  made  him  so  fa- 
mous. "  If,"  he  says,  "  you  would  commit  any 
sound  or  neuma  to  memory,  to  the  end  that 
whensoever  you  may  wish,  in  whatsoever 
melody,  whether  known  to  you  or  unknown, 
it  may  quickly  present  itself  so  that  you  may 
at  once  enunciate  it  without  any  doubt,  you 
must  note  that  sound  or  neuma  in  the  begin- 
ning of  some  well-known  tune.  And  because 
for  the  purpose  of  retaining  every  sound  in  the 
memory  after  this  manner  it  is  necessary  to 
have  ready  a  melody  which  begins  with  that 
same  sound,  I  have  used  the  melody  which 
follows  for  teaching  children  from  first  to 
last."  *      "  You     see,    therefore,"    continues 


P 


Tit     que  -  ant      lax    -    -    is     Re  -    so    -    na  -  re       fi   -    bris 


$ 


Mi    -     -     ra      ges    -    to  -  rum    Fa  -  mu  -  li      tu 


Hymn  to  St.  John  the  Baptist.      (Eighth  century.) 


4° 


Music 


Sane    -      -     te  Jo    -    ban    -    nes. 

Guido,  "  that  this  melody  begins  as  to  its 
six  divisions  with  six  different  sounds.  He, 
then,  who  through  practice  can  attain  the 
power  of  leading  off  with  certainty  the  begin- 
ning of  each  division,  will  be  in  a  position  to 
strike  these  six  sounds  easily  wheresoever  he 
may  meet  with  them." 

It  is  difficult  for  us,  who  have  always  at  hand 
instruments  of  fixed  intonation  to  give  the 
singer  the  desired  pitch,  to  realize  the  value 
of  this  device.  But  down  to  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  century, unaccompanied  vocal  music 
was  the  rule  in  the  service  of  the  Italian 
Church,  and,  as  confusion  and  false  starts  aris- 
ing from  uncertainty  in  regard  to  pitch  would 
have  been  most  indecorous  in  the  conduct  of 
a  religious  service,  it  was  indispensable  that 
a  chorister  should  be  able  infallibly  to  sound 
Ut,  Re,  Mi,  Fa,  Sol  and  La  without  the  aid 
of  any  instrument  whatever. 

Guido,  who  was  the  most  progressive  mu- 
sician of  his  time,  rearranged  the  scale  itself 
in     hexachords — groups   of   six   consecutive 


Mediaeval   Music  41 


sounds  with  a  diatonic  semitone  between  the 
third  and  fourth,  the  remaining  intervals  being 
whole  tones.  The  hexachords  began  on  G, 
C  and  F,  and  in  order  to  bring  the  semitone 
of  the  latter  hexachord  between  its  third  and 
fourth  sounds  the  note  B  was  made  fiat.    This 


f 


1 


g;  <g- 


i 


-rz  o- 


seems  to  be  the  first  step  toward  that  uni- 
formity in  the  position  of  the  semitones  which 
is  characteristic  of  the  modern  scales.  For  a 
long  time  the  flat  was  applied  only  to  this 
note  B,  to  soften  the  harshness  of  the  tritone 
— the  series  of  three  consecutive  whole  tones, 
or  steps,  which  occurs  between  F  and  B  of 
the  natural  scale.  The  sharp  was  not  used 
until  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  sounds  of  which  these  hexachords  are 
composed  were  sung  to  the  syllables  Ut,  Re, 
Mi,  Fa,  Sol  and  La,*  the  semitones  always 

*  When  the  hexachord  was  discarded  in  favor  of  the  octave 
the  syllable  Si  was  added  to  the  others,  and  about  two  cen- 
turies ago  Do  was  substituted  for  Ut — the  use  of  the  latter  sylla- 
ble having  been  discontinued  in  every  country  excepting  France. 


42  Music 

falling  between  Mi  and  Fa.  But  in  addition 
to  these  syllables  the  notes  were  named  also 
by  letters,  as  at  present,  and  the  letters  and 
syllables  did  not  always  correspond.  Fa,  Sol 
and  La  (C,  D,  E,)  of  one  hexachord  corre- 
sponded to  Do,  Re,  Mi  (C,  D,  E,)  of  another. 


t 


do 


p 


-j-3 ©- 


fa        sol 


do         re         mi        fa      sol       la 

The  art  of  so  changing  the  syllables,  when  a 
melody  extended  from  one  hexachord  into 
the  next,  as  to  bring  the  semitone  always  be- 
tween Mi  and  Fa,  was  called  solmization  ; 
and  this  art  was  of  the  greatest  importance 
in  the  training  of  a  mediaeval  musician.  From 
the  beginning  this  system  involved  great  dif- 
ficulties, which  constantly  increased  with  the 
introduction  of  chromatic  intervals  and  the 
addition  of  higher  and  lower  tones.  Various 
efforts  were  made  to  simplify  the  study  of 
music,  but  several  centuries  elapsed  before 
the  hexachords  were  finally  abandoned  for 
the  simpler  system  of  the  octave  and  nomen- 
clature of  the  alphabet. 

The  method   of  writing  on  alternate  lines 
and  spaces  was  soon  generally  adopted,  but 


Mediaeval  Music 


43 


without  any  limit  to  the  number  of  lines.  In 
early  manuscripts  are  staves  of  six,  eight, 
twelve,  or  even  more,  but  as  the  inconven- 


*3 


J 


Jm$amM^momm 


t)tt«o£xru^tt<rwWi<r  1  chafar  ncrod  f&^tiur  uilcni^yi?  % 

ience  of  these  became  apparent  the  number 
was  gradually  reduced  to  four  or  five.  The 
Gregorian  tones,  or  plain-chant,  are  still  writ- 
ten on  a  stave  of  four  lines,  and  our  modern 
piano-forte  stave  seems  to  be  a  modification 
of  the  great  stave  of  eleven  lines. 

If  the  broken  line  which  is  used  for  the  C  be- 


44  Music 

tvveen  the  bass  and  treble  staves  were  contin- 
uous, we  should  have  this  eleven-lined  stave. 
The  C  clef  would  be  upon  this  line,  and  the 
names  of  the  notes  the  same  as  at  present. 
For  convenience  in  reading,  however,  this 
middle  line  is  omitted,  a  section  of  it  being 
used  when  required,  and  in  piano-forte  music 
the  C  clef  does  not  appear  ;  though  it  is  some- 
times found  in  old  music  for  the  harpsichord. 
But  in  writing  for  voices,  or  for  instruments 
of  limited  compass,  a  section  of  the  eleven- 
lined  stave  is  selected,  covering  as  nearly  as 
possible  the  range  of  the  voice  or  instrument, 
and  the  place  of  the  C  clef,  which  always  fixes 
the  position  of  middle  C,  shows  what  section 
has  been  selected.* 

Treble,  or 

Soprano  SUve.  Violin  Stave. 


Baas  Stave.      Tenor  Stave.    Alto  Stave. 

41 


BE 


UU=JCB 


m 


As  long  as  the  correct  pronunciation  of  the 
words  marked  all  the  rhythm  necessary  for 
plain  chant,  notation  by  neumae  written  on 

*  The  treble,  called  also  violin  or  G  clef,  and  the  bass,  or  F 
clef,  are  used  only  with  the  upper  or  lower  group  of  five  lines  ; 
because  then  the  middle  C  does  not  form  part  of  the  stave.  For 
any  other  group  of  lines  the  C  clef  must  be  used. 


Mediaeval  Music 


45 


alternate  lines  and  spaces  was  sufficiently  ex- 
act. But  for  the  notation  of  rhythmic  mel- 
ody (measured  chant)  it  was  necessary  to  ex- 
press the  relative  duration,  as  well  as  the 
actual  pitch,  of  the  notes.  The  first  to  solve 
this  problem  was  Franco  of  Cologne,  who  in 
the  eleventh  century  invented  the  '  large,'  the 
'  long,'  the '  breve  '  and  the  '  semibreve,'  which 


LARGE. 


MINI. 


BREVE. 


SMIHHIVt. 


* + 


corresponds  to  our  whole  note.  The  '  minim,' 
the  '  crotchet,'  the  '  quaver '  and  '  semiquaver ' 
— terms  still  used  in  England  for  half,  quarter, 
eighth  and  sixteenth  notes — were  invented 
several  centuries  later,  and  were  for  a  long 
time  used  only  for  embellishments.  The 
minim — corresponding  to  our  half-note — was 
called  minim  (least)  because  it  was  supposed 
that  a  note  representing  a  smaller  value 
would  never  be  required. 

The  notes  of  measured  chant  were  at  first 
entirely    black,   afterward    their    value    was 


46  Music 

sometimes  altered  by  color;  but  in  the  four- 
teenth century  both  black  and  colored  forms 


were  superseded  by  hollow,  white  notes  with 

square,  or  diamond-shaped,  heads. 

Here  is  a  table  of 
MAXIMA) 
j     n^BRMS.  comparative  values  of 

lonca  q  a  »  these  notes-    In  this 

BREV|S  3  =T-  table  each  note  is  rep- 

SEMI-BHMSO  =-*  "  =  ^SEMI-BREVE.  resented  as  equal  to 
O  MINIM.  two  °^  tne  next  lower 
in  value ;  but  this  was 
not  always  the  case.  At  first  the  rhythm 
was  always  triple,  and  each  note  was  equal 
to  three  of  the  next  small- 


er.    This  triple  rhythm  was    -ill    0 
called  perfect,*  and  was  de- 
noted in  the  time  signature 


by    a    circle,    preceded    by    -||    (j*-1^ 

groups  of  rests  showing  the 

proportion     between    the    notes    employed. 

When,  somewhat  later,  duple,  or  quadruple, 

*  The  mediaeval   significance  of  the  number  three,   derived 
from  the  Blessed  Trinity. 


Mediaeval  Music 


47 


time  was  introduced,  it  was  called  imperfect, 
and  was  represented  in  the  time  signature  by 
a  half- circle  —  from  which  is 
derived  our  sign  for  common, 
or  quadruple,  time.  Still  later, 
the  groups  of  rests  were  re- 
placed by  figures,  and  so  orig- 
inated the  modern  time  signa- 
tures. 

In  measured  chant — which  was  so  called  to 
distinguish  it  from  plain  chant,  in  which  all 


BEE 


^5E 


S 


£E 


the  notes  were  of  the  same  length — there  were 
no  bars,  the  rhythm  being  shown  by  the 
value  of  the  notes.  But  as  this  value  was 
affected  by  the  order  in  which  the  notes 
followed  one  another,  a  dot  (or  hook)  was 
sometimes  introduced  to  separate  the  rhyth- 
mic periods. 


48  Music 

This  dot,  which  corresponded  to  the  mod- 
ern bar,  was  called  the  point  of  division. 
There  were  also  the  point  of  perfection  (which 
preserved  the  value  of  a  note),  the  point  of 
alteration  (which  lessened  its  value),  and  the 
point  of  addition,  or  augmentation,  which  was 
identical  with  our  modern  dot;  adding  one- 
half  to  the  value  of  the  note  after  which  it 
was  placed. 

The  bar  was  first  used,  about  the  close  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  to  facilitate  the  read- 
ing of  compositions  written  in  score — that  is, 
with  the  parts  one  under  the  other — by  mark- 
ing the  words  or  syllables  to  be  sung  to- 
gether.* 

Although  in  the  notation  of  vocal  music 
letters  were  early  superseded  by  neumae  and 
mensural  notes,  yet  for  instrumental  music — 
particularly  for  organ  and  lute — they  were 
used  down  even  into  the  seventeenth  century. 
This  kind  of  notation,  which  was  called 
tablature,  had  above  the  letters  that  indicat- 
ed the  pitch  signs  denoting  the  value  of  the 
notes ;  a  point  for  the  breve,  a  stroke  for  the 

*  The  first  note  of  the  measure  is  not  accented  because  it 
comes  immediately  after  the  bar,  but  the  bar  is  placed  before 
the  note  which  naturally  receives  the  accent;  which  explains 
why  a  composition  does  not  always  begin  with  a  full  measure. 


Mediaeval  Music 


49 


semibreve,  a  little  tail,  or  streamer,  for  the 
minima  and  two  for  the  semiminima,  and  cor- 
responding signs  for  the  rests. 


1                    1 

i                i        i 

i          i    i 

f  ~  f  ?r 

i       i  •  — 

1  •  r-         1 

1           1    1 

1        '    i 

0  9    «    ft 

1  -  1 —     1       1 

From  this  notation  the  organist  was  ex- 
pected to  read.  The  tablature  for  the  lute 
had  also  numbers  indicating  the  positions,  or 
fingering. 


From  this  tablature  -  notation  have  been 
borrowed,  probably,  the  forms  for  our  smaller 
notes  and  rests,  as  well  as  the  method  of 
grouping  the  former  by  common  strokes. 


50  Music 

For  many  centuries  music — that  is,  learned, 
scientific  music — was  entirely  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Church  and  strictly  regulated  by 
ecclesiastical  authority.  Doubtless  the  com- 
mon people  had  their  own  songs  and  dance 
tunes,  but  the  learned  monks  who  wrote  all 
the  treatises  and  preserved  all  the  manu- 
scripts did  not  deem  them  worthy  of  record; 
so  for  about  a  thousand  years  the  only  music 
of  which  we  have  any  real  history  is  church 
music.  We  frequently,  however,  meet  with 
mention  of  the  minstrels  who  lived  at  the 
various  courts,  or  travelled  about  visiting  the 
great  houses  and  castles  and  singing  ballads 
and  love-songs.  These  wandering  musicians 
were  always  welcome  everywhere — even  in 
countries  with  which  their  own  nation  might 
be  at  war.  The  Saxon  king,  Alfred  the  Great 
of  England,  is  said  to  have  visited  the  Danish 
camp  on  the  eve  of  a  great  battle,  disguised 
as  a  harper. 

The  troubadours,  who  first  appeared  about 
the  close  of  the  eleventh  century  in  the  south 
of  France,  were  generally  of  higher  rank 
than  the  minstrels;  more  than  one  king  was 
proud  to  be  also  a  troubadour.  Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion  was  one,  and  the  French  min- 
strel, Blondel,  who  was  his  teacher,  became 


Mediaeval  Music  51 

also  his  friend  and  companion.  We  all  know 
the  pretty  story  of  how,  when  Richard  on 
his  way  home  from  a  crusade  was  taken  cap- 
tive by  the  Austrian  duke  and  shut  up  in 
prison,  no  one  knew  where,  Blondel  travelled 
all  over  Europe,  singing  his  master's  favorite 
songs  beneath  the  windows  of  each  castle  and 
fortress,  until  at  last  he  heard  the  king's  voice 
answering  with  the  same  song,  and  could 
carry  back  to  England  the  news  of  where  its 
monarch  was  imprisoned.  Many  of  the  nobles 
who  went  to  the  Holy  Land  to  fight  in  the 
crusades  were  troubadours,  and  brought  back 
with  them  Oriental  melodies  and  instruments 
which  had  a  great  influence  upon  the  devel- 
opment of  European  art. 

The  troubadours,  who  were  mostly  men  of 
rank  and  station,  composed  both  the  poetry 
and  the  music  to  which  it  was  set ;  but  the  per- 
formance of  their  compositions,  which  were 
chiefly  love-songs,  was  generally  intrusted  to 
the  professional  musicians  attached  to  their 
retinue,  who  were  called  'jongleurs.'* 

These  jongleurs,  or  minstrels,  wandered 
from  country  to  country  and  from  court  to 
court,  and  sometimes  several  of  them,  meet- 

*  From  which  comes  the  word  juggler. 


52  Music 

ing  at  the  same  house,  would  measure  their 
artistic  strength  in  a  friendly  strife  ;  and  in 
this  manner,  probably,  originated  those  public 
contests  of  song  which  became  such  a  feature 
of  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  '  minnesinger  '  were  a  famous  brother- 
hood of  German  troubadours,  who  held  pub- 
lic competitions  for  artistic  honors.  They 
always  sang  and  accompanied  their  own  com- 
positions, which  were  not  exclusively  love- 
songs,  and  their  art  was  held  in  high  esteem. 
The  most  distinguished  of  these  poet-min- 
strels were  Walther  von  der  Vogelweide, 
Heinrich  von  Oefterdingen,  Tannhauser  and 
Wolfram  von  Eschenbach,  and  it  is  one  of 
their  contests,  the  '  Sangerkrieg  auf  der 
Wartburg,'  which  is  represented  in  Wag- 
ner's '  Tannhauser.'  The  '  meistersinger,' 
the  subject  of  another  of  Wagner's  operas, 
endeavored  in  the  fourteenth  century  to  re- 
vive the  fame  of  the  minnesinger;  but  they 
were,  as  a  rule,  ignorant  and  pedantic,  and 
had  no  lasting  influence.  They  formed  them- 
selves into  bands,  or  guilds,  for  the  regulation 
of  contests,  and  framed  elaborate  rules  for 
the  composition  of  poetry  and  music;  but 
they  apparently  cared  more  for  the  rules  than 
for  the  poetry  or  music,  and  did  little  for  the 


Medieval  Music  53 

advancement  of  either  art.  The  most  cele- 
brated of  the  meistersinger  was  Hans  Sachs, 
of  Nuremberg,  whom  Wagner  has  immortal- 
ized. The  minstrels,  troubadours  and  min- 
nesinger played  a  very  important  part  in  the 
development  of  the  music  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury these  musicians  exercised  a  wide  influ- 
ence. 


Ill 


The  Belgian  School 


IT  was  not  in  France,  where  the  achievements 
of  the  troubadours  seemed  to  promise  so 
much — nor  in  Germany,  where  the  art  of  the 
minnesinger  was  held  in  such  high  esteem — 
nor  in  England,  where  music  was  early  culti- 
vated and  appreciated — nor  in  Italv,  where 
the  people  have  such  sweet  voices  and  the 
language  almost  sings  itself,  and  where  in 
the  fourteenth  century  the  art  of  improvisa- 
tion was  so  much  admired — but  in  a  little 
country  in  the  north  of  Europe  that  music 
sustained  its  first  great  development.  How 
did  it  happen  that  under  the  cold,  gray  skies 
and  amid  the  flat,  dull  landscape  of  the  Neth- 
erlands the  art  of  music  flourished  more 
than  in  sunny  France  or  beauty-loving  Italy  ? 
It  was  because  the  Low  Countries  were  at 
this    time    prosperous    and  powerful,   under 

54 


The  Belgian  School  $$ 

a  liberal  government  and  at  peace  with  all 
the  earth.  France  was  distracted  by  war 
with  England  and  plots  and  insurrections  at 
home.  In  Germany  the  struggle  between 
pope  and  emperor  kept  the  land  in  a  con- 
tinual turmoil.  In  England,  besides  the 
war  with  France,  there  was  bloody  internal 
strife  ;  and  in  Italy — whose  commerce  sur- 
passed that  of  Holland — whose  merchants 
lived  in  princely  luxury — where  the  arts  of 
painting  and  architecture  flourished — the 
cities,  instead  of  uniting  like  the  cities  of  the 
Netherlands  in  peaceful  festivals  which  stim- 
ulated the  development  of  musical  art,  were 
constantly  involved  in  sanguinary  feuds; 
and  even  in  individual  families  jealousy  and 
hatred  were  handed  down  from  generation 
to  generation.  So  in  all  Europe  the  only 
peaceful  corner  for  the  art  of  music  was  in 
the  Netherlands. 

The  musical  development  of  the  Nether- 
lands was  exclusively  in  the  direction  of  coun- 
terpoint. For  many  centuries  music  consist- 
ed of  melody  only.  Harmonic  combinations 
were  known  to  the  Greeks,  though  they  appa- 
rently did  not  use  them  in  performance,  and 
very  early  writers  mention  symphony  and 
diaphony — meaning,  probably,  consonant  and 


56  Music 

dissonant  intervals.  But  the  earliest  depart- 
ure from  strictly  unisonal  singing  seems  to 
have  been  in  the  tenth  century,  when  Huc- 
baldus,  the  Flemish  monk  who  experimented 
with  the  stave,  accompanied  various  melo- 
dies with  a  part  forming  consecutive  fifths 
or  fourths — progressions  unbearably  harsh  to 


fv*- 

-s>- 

-S>- 

B 

.B. 

-B_ 
_B_ 

JZL 

-i=- 

-■S>- 

— <s>— 

B 

"^ 

-G>- 

-s>- 
0 

-B- 
— «- 

.B. 

— <S>— 

.B. 

—<s>— 

—&— 

^«- 

"B- 

-G>- 

B 

modern  ears  * — which  crude  accompaniment 
was  called  'organum.' 

This  was  succeeded  by  a  more  elaborate 
system  called  '  discantus,'  which  was  the  tran- 
sition from  organum  to  counterpoint.  In  dis- 
cant  other  intervals  than  fifths  and  fourths 
were  permitted,  and  the  voices  moved  some- 
times  in  opposite  directions,  instead   of   al- 


*  The  unpleasant  effect  of  consecutive  fifths  seems  to  be  due 
to  their  suggestion  of  different  tonalities  and  abrupt  passage 
from  one  to  another.  As  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  fifth  repre- 
sented merely  a  perfect  consonance — modern  tonalities  being  as 
yet  unrecognized — the  succession  of  such  intervals  was  probably 
not  disagreeable  to  mediaeval  ears. 


The  Belgian  School  57 

ways  parallel ;  so  that  the  harshness  of  the 
organum  was  generally  avoided.* 

Singers  were  taught  to  improvise  the  dis- 
cant,  and  of  this  music  we  have,  naturally, 
little  or  no  record.  The  only  music  that  has 
been  preserved  unchanged  from  the  first 
thousand  years  of  the  Christian  Church  is  the 
plain-song,  or  melody  of  the  Gregorian  tones 
or  chants.  "This,"  says  Ambros,  "is  the 
true  rock  of  Peter,  around  which  ebbed  and 
flowed  the  vanishing  waves  of  the  improvised 
discant." 

But  discant,  although  a  great  improvement 
upon  organum,  was  a  mere  succession  of  con- 
sonant intervals,  and  developed  into  real 
counterpoint  only  as  the  importance  of  dis- 
sonances became  more  fully  recognized. 
Counterpoint  is  the  art  of  combining  mel- 
odies. Some  old  chant  or  familiar  tune  was 
taken  as  a  foundation,  spaced  off  in  very  long 
notes  and  given  to  the  tenor  voice.  To  this, 
which  was  called  the  'canto  fermo,'  were 
added,  both  above  and  below,  more  or  less 


*  Because  the  discant  was  frequently  higher  in  pitch  than  the 
melody  to  which  it  was  added,  the  name  was  later  applied  to 
the  soprano  part,  or  the  instrument  playing  that  part,  and  so 
came  to  mean  an  air  or  melody. 


58  Music 

elaborate  melodies  for  the  other  voices — each 
melody  independent  and  complete  in  itself. 
As  the  notes  were  in  those  days  called  points, 
the  added  melody  was  called  the  counter- 
point— point  against  point.  If  the  foundation 
tune  was  not  long  enough  for  the  words  it 
was  repeated  —  sometimes  backward,  for 
variety — with  new  counterpoint  each  time. 
Modern  music  is  a  melody  with  an  accom- 
paniment built  upon  chords  ;  but  contrapuntal 
music  is  formed  of  distinct  and  independent 
melodies  which  are  sung  or  played  together. 
Modern  music  is  regarded,  as  it  were,  per- 
pendicularly ;  the  melody,  and  below,  or 
sometimes  above  it,  the  harmony — chords,  or 
arpeggios,  or  figures  of  any  sort  which  form 
the  accompaniment.  Contrapuntal  music 
must  be  regarded  horizontally  ;  the  melody 
upon  which  the  composition  is  based — the 
canto  fermo — and  other  melodies,  either 
above  or  below  it,  which,  though  they  may 
when  combined  form  successions  of  chords, 
are  yet  distinct  and  independent  melo- 
dies. 

In  early  days  vocal  music  was  the  only  im- 
portant branch  of  the  art.  The  instruments 
were  not  capable  of  playing  anything  but  the 
simplest  melodies.     The  voices  usually  sang 


The  Belgian  School 


59 


without  accompaniment,  or,  if  instruments 
were  used,  they  played  just  what  the  voices 
sang.  Doubtless  the  early  musicians,  if  they 
had  had  an  instrument  like  the  piano-forte 
upon  which  to  experiment,  would  very  quick- 
ly have  discovered  chords  and  all  the  har- 
monic figures  that  are  now  used  in  accom- 
paniments. But  their  instruments  were  very 
imperfect,  while  human  voices  were  just  as 
beautiful  as  they  are  to-day;  so  they  com- 
posed exclusively  for  voices,  and  it  was  nat- 
ural that  they  should  think  of  each  voice 
separately  and  give  to  each  an  independent 
part. 

The  early  counterpoint  was  very  formal 
and  severe,  and  the  rules  for  its  composition 
extremely  strict.  The  canto  fermo — the  mel- 
ody to  which  the  counterpoint  was  added — 
was  always  arranged  in  long  notes  of  equal 
length,  and  the  counterpoint  was  carefully 
classified.  There  were  two  kinds — plain,  or 
simple,  and  double.  Plain  counterpoint  might 
be  note  against  note 


fPr- 

9^ 

-Gt- 
2 

^r 

"*"£> 
*> 

'-»-'-=>- 

6o 


Music 


two  notes  against  one 

-l 1- 


J    ,J         -J-.-J J_r-J -J-rH 1 


*« — '      ^  '^ — ^-P^ — *=>-+- 


three  or  four  notes  against  one 


=?—*—*- 


BE 


=3 


i — I—. — I — I — L 


*=*= 


^EE^i 


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g— j — i — U-4 


*=*= 


i |__|  I  I  |  | , 


E^ 


r^ 1- 


^=*= 


++± 


=»:=:^ 


syncopated 


J 


-g»—  -& 


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t3t=st 


fefe 


^  ^    —  -g* 


or  florid. 


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— — « — « — 

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— 1 — 

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tr— ^ 

Us — 

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I^J 


The  Belgian   School 


61 


When    the    parts    might    be    inverted    the 
counterpoint  was  called  double. 


^^ 


=t 


' 


3^ 


±£zh±± 


4=:t 


^ 


Inversion. 


These  examples  are  of  the  very  simplest 
description,  only  one  voice  carrying  a  coun- 
terpoint against  the  canto  fermo  ;  but  by  the 
addition  of  two,  three,  four,  six,  eight,  or  even 
more  voices,  each  with  its  own  melodious 
counterpoint,  the  richest  and  most  elaborate 
musical  works  might  be  constructed — as,  for 
instance,  the  great  Italian  masses  of  the  six- 
teenth century. 

Although  in  strict  counterpoint,  which  was 
essentially  vocal,  the  canto  fermo  was  always 
in  notes  of  equal  length,  with  the  develop- 
ment of  instrumental  music  a  freer  style  was 
gradually  introduced,  in  which  notes  of  vari- 
ous lengths  were  permitted  in  all  the  parts. 


62 


Music 


It  is  in  this  freer  style  that  the  great  works, 
both  vocal  and  instrumental,  of  the  eighteenth 
century  (Bach  and  Handel)  are  composed. 

The  northern  musicians  who  in  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries  so  elaborated  the  art 
of  counterpoint  are  known  as  the  Belgian 
school.  The  art  did  not  originate  with  them 
— the  earliest  known  polyphonic  (contra- 
puntal) composition  is  English — but  they 
took  the  lead  of  all  other  nations  in  its  de- 
velopment. One  of  them,  Guillaume  Dufay 
(i 380-1430),  is  said  to  have  invented  the 
canon,  which  is  the  strictest  kind  of  musical 
composition — the  part  for  the  first  voice  be- 
ing exactly  repeated  by  all  the  others,  begin- 
ning at  different  times. 


i 


m 


-£■       W 


r-J- 


A 


^— U^fc 


r 


r  r 


P 


^=^ 


r  r  f 

Coda. 


I 


<&= 


^r 


This  canon  is  brought  to  a  conclusion,  and 
is  of  the  kind  called  finite  ;  but  many  canons 


The  Belgian  School 


63 


lead  back  to  the  beginning,  and  thus  become 
perpetual,  or  infinite. 


t 


*& 


JlaEEg^gEE^t 


gStn 


^ 


±= 


?■- 


m--.-*-^ 


t=t= 


-* m- 


& 


I 


^ 


IB 


FirP: 


1 


For  such  compositions  as  these  it  was  suf- 
ficient to  write  a  single  part,  appending  a 
rule,  or  canon,  for  the  entrance  of  the  voices; 
and  from  this,  which  was  a  very  common 
manner  of  writing,  probably  originated  the 
name.  These  rules,  or  canons,  were  often 
riddles  or  puns  which  the  singer  was  ex- 
pected to  guess.  By  the  canon  '  Crescit  in 
duplo  '  the  composer  indicated  that  the  fol- 
lowing voice  should  double  the  value  of  the 


64 


Music 


notes.  By  the  canon  '  Qui  se  exaltat  humi- 
liabitur'  the  second  voice  was  directed  to 
rise  when  the  first  descended  and  fall  when 
it  ascended,  etc.  The  Belgian  musicians 
wrote  canons  in  the  most  fantastic  ways. 
Some  could  be  sung  equally  well  with  the 
book  upside  down,  or  backward.  Here  is 
one  of  the  kind  called  '  cancrizans  ' — crablike 
— because  of  its  retrograde  motion. 


^£^gg^ 


S 


EEE 


j==t 


T=£ 


■*tt* 


Backwards. 


p 


Eta* 


-4 — I 1 — — U h- 


=ra=c: 


— i —    '  *»-*-' — > — — i— 


~  -m-  -&-  *■ ' 

It  seems  to  have  been  the  aim  of  these  old 
contrapuntists  to  produce  canons  which  are 
almost  incomprehensible.     They  wrote  them 


The  Belgian  School  65 

in  circles  and  triangles  and  other  shapes,  or 
even  simply  indicated  them  by  monograms 
and  symbols,  concealing  in  an  enigma  the 
key  to  the  solution. 

These  curious  old  compositions  seem  to  us 
rather  trivial,  though  they  must  have  cost 
their  composers  much  labor  and  pains,  and 
they  have  no  trace  whatever  of  beauty  — 
the  composers  caring  only  for  the  correct 
ordering  of  the  intervals — but  it  was  really 
by  means  of  such  experiments  that  the  early 
musicians  discovered  the  relations  of  tones 
and  all  the  possibilities  of  combination  which 
their  successors  turned  to  such  good  account. 
It  was  this  severe  training  in  the  strict  school 
of  dry  and  artificial  counterpoint  that  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  glorious  development 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

One  of  the  most  noted  of  the  Belgian  mu- 
sicians was  Josquin  des  Pres  (1440-1521),  of 
whom  Luther  said  that  he  "  was  master  of 
notes  while  others  were  mastered  by  them." 
The  historian  Ambros  says  that  he  is  the 
first  composer  whose  works  create  an  im- 
pression of  genius.  Des  Pres  certainlv 
seems  to  have  had  a  new  revelation  concern- 
ing music.  He  says  :  "  It  is  not  enough  that 
the  contrapuntal  voices  shall  appear  in  well- 


66  Music 

sounding  and  dignified  combinations — music 
hath  also  a  speech  and  capacity  for  the  ex- 
pression of  the  pain  and  pleasure  of  the  hu- 
man breast."  Des  Pres  is  the  first  composer 
whose  works  have  survived  in  sufficient  quan- 
tity to  fairly  represent  his  achievements — 
the  invention  of  printing  music  by  movable 
types,*  which  so  stimulated  publication,  dat- 
ing from  his  day.  Before  that  time  music 
had  been  printed  only  in  coarse  wood-cuts. 


All  really  fine  copies  of  musical  works  were 
made  with  pen  and  brush — generally  in  char- 
acters so  large  and  distinct  that  the  whole 
choir  could  sing  from  one  enormous  folio 
opened  before  it  on  a  reading-desk.  Such 
richly  illuminated  volumes  in  costly  bindings 
are  to-day  counted  among  the  greatest  treas- 
ures of  cathedrals  and  monasteries. 

*Ottaviano  dei  Petrucci,  about  1500. 


xi  etafrfcroc  teen?  fum  -it 
Iduu   pofm  fti  fopcrmc 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPT   (FIFTEENTH   CENTURY)   IN   THE    IMPERIAL 
LIBRARY,   VIENNA. 


The  Belgian  School  67 


But  the  greatest  of  the  Belgian  musicians 
was  Orlando  Lassus  (1520-95),  who  spent 
most  of  his  life  as  director  of  the  ducal  chapel 
in  Munich,  where  honors  and  riches  were 
showered  upon  him.  He  was  called  the 
'  Prince  of  Music,'  received  letters  of  nobility 
from  the  emperor,  and  from  the  pope  the 
coveted  order  of  the  Golden  Spur.  Lassus, 
who  excelled  in  both  sacred  and  secular  mu- 
sic, produced  an  immense  number  of  works 
(about  two  thousand),  and  his  fame,  even 
during  his  lifetime,  was  widespread.  He  was 
undoubtedly  the  greatest  composer  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  with  the  single  exception 
of  his  illustrious  contemporary,  Palestrina. 


IV 

Music  in  Italy 


THE  Italians  of  the  fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries  had  a  lively  apprecia- 
tion of  music  and  much  natural  talent,  and 
the  art  of  improvisation,  which  they  held  in 
the  highest  esteem,  was  widely  practised. 
But  this  kind  of  emotional  song,  though  it 
did  much  for  the  development  of  melody, 
could  not  lead  to  the  higher  art  which  is 
founded  upon  tones  in  combination — harmony 
— and  the  impulse  toward  this  higher  art 
was  first  given  in  Italy  by  the  Netherlanders. 
In  the  fifteenth  century  Dutch  singers,  com- 
posers, teachers  and  theoreticians  held  the 
first  positions  all  over  Italy,  and  exerted  a 
decisive  influence  upon  the  development  of 
music  in  that  country. 

When,  about  the  beginning  of    the  four- 
teenth century,  Pope  Clement  V.  transferred 
68 


Music  in  Italy  69 

the  papal  chair  to  Avignon,  the  papal  choir 
remained  in  Rome,  and  in  the  new  capital  a 
new  choir  was  formed  consisting  largely  of 
Flemish  singers,  who,  as  had  been  their  cus- 
tom, added  discant  and  vocal  ornaments  to 
the  plain-song  of  the  church  service.  Though 
efforts  were  made  (notably  by  Pope  John 
XXII.)  to  purify  the  Gregorian  chant  from 
these  additions,  under  later  pontiffs  the  papal 
court  at  Avignon  became  the  seat  of  such 
luxury  and  magnificence  that  vocal  display 
in  the  service  was  encouraged  rather  than 
repressed.  When,  toward  the  close  of  the 
century,  Gregory  IX.  finally  returned  to 
Rome,  the  Avignon  choir  accompanied  him 
and  was  amalgamated  with  the  Roman 
chapel ;  and  with  the  admission  of  the  Neth- 
erlanders  and  their  compositions  into  the 
papal  choir  was  decided  their  predominant 
influence  in  Italy. 

Music,  by  this  time,  had  ceased  to  be  the 
monopoly  of  the  Church,  and  the  Nether- 
landers  worked  in  all  directions  for  its  de- 
velopment. One  of  them,  Adrian  Willaert 
(1490-1563),  chapelmaster  at  St.  Mark's  in 
Venice,  is  thought  to  have  been  the  inventor 
of  the  madrigal,  which  is  an  unaccompanied 
song  for  several    voices   in    the  polyphonic 


70  Music 

(contrapuntal)  style,  and  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury represented  the  highest  form  of  secular, 
as  the  mass  the  highest  form  of  sacred,  music. 
The  madrigal  flourished  chiefly  in  Italy  and 
in  England.  In  the  latter  country  during 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  it  became  ex- 
tremely popular  in  aristocratic  circles,  and 
not  to  be  able  to  sing  a  part  at  sight  was 
counted  as  a  lack  of  culture  and  education. 
The  madrigals  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries  are  probably  the  best  music 
that  England  has  produced. 

In  a  few  generations  the  teachings  and  in- 
fluence of  northern  musicians  in  Italy  had 
developed  a  school  of  native  composers,  who 
first  rivalled  and  then  outshone  the  former, 
and  of  which  the  culminating  glory  was 
Giovanni  da  Palestrina  (1528-94),  who  died 
just  as  the  dawn  of  the  monodic  style — the 
new  music,  as  it  was  called — began  to  glow 
above  the  horizon.* 

*  In  polyphonic  (contrapuntal)  music  all  the  parts  are  of  equal 
importance  and  all  equally  melodious,  while  in  monodic  (homo- 
phonic)  music  the  chief  melody  is  given  to  one  prominent  part 
or  voice,  to  which  all  the  others  are  subordinated  to  form  an  ac- 
companiment. The  choruses  of  Handel's  '  Messiah  '  are  splen- 
did examples  of  polyphony,  while  the  solos  "  He  shall  feed  his 
flock,"  and  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,"  are  homopho- 
nic  or  monodic. 


Music  in  Italy  71 

Palestrina's  name  is  most  prominently  as- 
sociated with  the  attempted  reformation  of 
ecclesiastical  music  by  the  celebrated  Coun- 
cil of  Trent.  Complaints  against  the  abuse 
of  contrapuntal  elaborations  in  the  music  of 
the  church  service  had  become  so  loud  that 
in  1562  the  council  seriously  contemplated 
the  prohibition  of  figural  (contrapuntal)  music 
altogether,  and  the  restoration  in  its  place  of 
the  ancient,  simple  Gregorian  chant.  It  was 
not  the  reform  of  the  art  of  music,  however, 
at  which  the  council  aimed,  but  the  reform 
of  the  church  ritual.  The  Gregorian  chants 
were  designed  to  add  to  the  impressiveness 
of  this  ritual — the  words  being  the  principal 
thing,  the  music  of  value  only  as  it  enhanced 
their  importance.  But  although  the  masses 
and  motets  were  generally  founded  upon 
these  old  chants,  they  were  so  obscured  by 
the  elaborate  counterpoint  of  the  composers 
and  the  ornaments  added  by  the  singers  as  to 
be  quite  unrecognizable,  and  a  few  syllables 
were  made  the  occasion  for  such  a  vast  num- 
ber of  notes  as  to  become  absolutely  unintel- 
ligible. Moreover,  the  masses  and  motets 
were  often  founded  upon  secular  melodies, 
which,  though  they  in  like  manner  disap- 
peared   beneath    the   complications    of    the 


72  Music 

counterpoint,  yet  gave  their  names  to  the 
compositions  and  were  often  actually  sung  to 
the  words  with  which  they  were  habitually 
associated ;  so  that  with  the  most  solemn 
phrases  of  the  mass  were  mingled  the  re- 
frains of  indecorous  songs. 

It  would,  however,  be  unjust  to  infer  that 
the  Netherlanders,  to  whom  the  introduction 
of  secular  songs  as  canti  fermi  for  sacred  com- 
positions is  due,  had  any  thought  of  profana- 
tion or  indecorum.  They  were  used  to  the 
intermingling  of  every-day  life  with  sacred 
art — their  own  portraits  appear  in  altar-pieces 
with  saints  and  angels — apostles  and  martyrs 
are  depicted  with  the  most  realistic  Dutch 
surroundings — and  it  seemed  to  them  natural 
enough  that  their  popular  songs  should  be 
used  in  the  service  of  the  Church.  In  Rome, 
where  the  custom  would,  perhaps,  not  have 
originated,  the  fame  of  the  Netherland  mu- 
sicians and  the  real  merit  of  their  composi- 
tions secured  for  them  admittance  into  the 
papal  chapel  and  acceptance  as  models  by 
the  Italian  composers. 

In  the  council  the  most  zealous  of  the  re- 
formers advocated  the  restriction  of  music 
in  the  church  service  to  the  ancient,  Gregor- 
ian plain-chant ;  but,  fortunately,  there  were 


Music  in   Italy  73 

also  true  music-lovers  and  cultivated  ama- 
teurs, and  the  decree  was  finally  modified  to 
a  warning  against  the  abuse  of  contrapuntal 
devices  and  the  introduction  of  words  foreign 
to  the  prescribed  text,  and  to  the  exclusion 
of  masses  founded  upon  secular  melodies. 
As  to  what  kind  of  contrapuntal  music  would 
not  interfere  with  the  clear  understanding 
of  the  words,  it  was  resolved  to  make  a  prac- 
tical test ;  and  Palestrina,  whose  reputation 
was  already  great,  was  invited  to  compose  a 
work  which  should  prove  that  artistic  music 
could  be  made  to  heighten,  rather  than  les- 
sen, the  effect  of  the  words.  With  what  zeal 
and  devotion  he  undertook  the  task  is  shown 
by  the  motto  he  chose — "  Lord,  illumine  mine 
eyes  " — and  by  the  fact  that,  in  place  of  one, 
he  wrote  three  masses  ;  the  last  of  which, 
dedicated  to  Pope  Marcellus  and  known  as 
the  '  Missa  Papse  Marcelli,'  is  universally 
recognized  as  the  greatest  musical  composi- 
tion of  the  sixteenth  century.  Its  perform- 
ance before  a  commission  of  cardinals  was  so 
convincing,  that  figural  music  was  tacitly,  if 
not  formally,  received  into  ecclesiastical  favor 
and  accorded  the  protection  which  was  nec- 
essary to  insure  the  future  development  of 
the  art. 


74  Music 

The  pope's  verdict  upon  Palestrina's  mass 
has  become  celebrated.  "  These,"  said  he, 
"  are  the  harmonies  of  the  new  song  which 
the  Apostle  John  heard  out  of  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem,  and  of  which  an  earthly  John 
(Giovanni)  in  an  earthly  Jerusalem  gives  us  a 
foretaste." 


V 

Evolution  of  the  Modem  Scale 


AS  long  as  music  consisted  of  melody  only, 
the  ecclesiastical  modes,  or  scales,  an- 
swered every  purpose.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
consider  the  modern  major  and  minor  forms 
as  the  standard  scales.  They  are  only  the 
standard  scales  of  the  musical  development 
of  the  last  three  centuries  in  western  Eu- 
rope. A  composer  may  use  any  scale  that 
his  hearers  can  understand,  and  are  willing 
to  accept.  The  Arabian  scale  comprises  sev- 
enteen degrees  to  the  octave — our  step  of  a 
whole  tone  being  divided  into  three — and  is 
perfectly  comprehensible  and  acceptable  to 
ears  which  are  familiar  with  it.  In  primitive 
music  the  most  common  scale  is  the  penta- 
tonic,  consisting  of  but  five  degrees  and  cor- 


$ 


75 


76 


Music 


responding  exactly  to  the  modern  major  scale 
with  the  fourth  and  seventh  omitted.  The 
melodies  of  the  American  Indians  and  ne- 
groes are  largely  constructed  upon  this  scale, 


NEGRO  MELODY  (PENTATONIC). 

as  are  also  those  of  man)'  Asiatic  nations. 


CHINESE   MELODY   (PENTATONIC). 

This  pentatonic  scale  is  characteristic  of 
Scotch  music  also.  The  familiar  old  tune 
of  '  Bonnie    Doon '  is  a  pentatonic    melody. 


Evolution  of  the  Modern  Scale 


77 


A  characteristic  Hungarian  scale  has  two 
augmented  seconds,  *  and  still  other  scales 
are  used  in  other  countries. 


$ 


-*= 


±= 


I 


Since  the  sixteenth  century,  music  has 
been  composed  mostly  in  the  modern  major 
and  minor  scales,  or  keys,  but  many  melo- 
dies with  which  we  are  quite  familiar  are 
in  scales  exactly  corresponding  to  the  an- 
cient ecclesiastical  modes.  The  Scotch  and 
Irish  tunes  that  sound  so  weird  and  strange 
are  generally  constructed  upon  scales  in 
which,  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
modern  scale,  the  semitones  are  displaced. 
This  beautiful  old  Irish  melody  is  in  a  scale 
having  semitones  between  the  second  and 
third,  and  sixth  and  seventh  degrees. 


f  = 


I 


Three  half-tones  or  steps. 


78 


Music 


r~T~i= 


J=J= 


Here  is  another,  in  a  scale  which  has  semi- 
tones between  the  second  and  third,  and  fifth 
and  sixth  degrees. 


¥ 


^2J=. 


"s^ 


"*^*T»- 


^^^fl 


=p=J=^==t=^=qi=P= 


i fa — I 1 1 1- 


=ra-^..  r  r— 


=F=?»= 


m— 


£9 


Evolution  of  the  Modern  Scale       79 

Modern  composers  sometimes  use  these  old 
scales  to  produce  special  effects.  The  ballad 
of  the  '  King  of  Thule'  in  Gounod's  '  Faust* 
is  an  example. 


^^ 


*       • 


If  it  were  in  the  modern  scale  of  A  minor, 
the  G  in  the  second  measure  would  be  made 
sharp.  In  one  of  Beethoven's  later  quartets 
is  a  movement  which  he  entitles  '  Song  of 
Thanksgiving  in  the  Lydian  Mode,  offered  to 
the  Almighty  by  a  Convalescent;'*  and 
many  other  examples  might  be  quoted  to  il- 
lustrate the  occasional  use  of  ancient  scales 
by  modern  composers. 

Until  about  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  all  musical  compositions  were 
in  the  ecclesiastical  modes,  or  scales.  These 
may  be  pretty  well  represented  on  the  white 
keys  of  the  piano-forte  key-board,  each  scale 
beginning  with  a  different  letter  and  the  semi- 
tones, or  half-steps,  falling  between  different 
degrees — thus  giving  to  each  a  distinctive 
character ;    whereas    our    modern    major  or 

*  It  was  the  Lydian  mode,  or  scale,  which  mediaeval  writ- 
ers called  Modus  Laetus,  the  Joyful  Mode — most  appropriate 
for  a  convalescent. 


8o  Music 

minor  scales  are  virtually  the  same  scale 
transposed  higher  or  lower — the  sharps  and 
flats  being  used  to  bring  the  semitones  al- 
ways between  the  same  relative  degrees. 

A  characteristic  of  all  modern  scales  is  the 
leading  note — that  on  the  seventh  degree — 
which  is  always  a  semitone  below  the  key- 
note, or  tonic,  into  which  it  seems  naturally 
to  lead.  This  note  is  essential  to  the  modern 
system  of  harmony.  But  in  most  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical scales  the  note  immediately  below 
the  tonic  was  separated  from  it  by  the  inter- 
val of  a  whole  tone,  and  a  few  of  the  simplest 
chord  progressions  transposed  into  one  of 
them  will  show  how  impossible  they  were  for 
harmonic  combinations. 


Scale  of  A  Major.  iEolian  Mode. 


£8 


-gr1— -j 


Scale  of  D  Major.  Dorian  Mode. 


m^^^=^^=z===s=\ 


Evolution  of  the  Modern  Scale       81 

It  was  early  discovered  that  a  really  well- 
sounding  counterpoint,  or  accompanying 
melody  to  a  canto  fermo,  could  not  be  writ- 
ten without  occasionally  introducing  acci- 
dentals to  change  the  position  of  the  semi- 
tones. 

As  the  voices  combined  to  form  chords 
it  was  found  that  to  make  them  agreeable  to 
the  ear  the  seventh  note  of  the  scale  must 
be  a  semitone,  or  half-step,  below  the  ton- 
ic, or  key-note ;  and  as  the  appreciation  of 
harmonic  relations  became  more  and  more 
definite,  the  raising  of  this  seventh  by  an  ac- 
cidental became  more  and  more  common. 
Zarlino,  the  most  progressive  theoretician  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  says  :  "  Nature  herself 
demands  the  leading  note— even  the  peasants 
who  know  nothing  of  the  art  of  music  sound 
it  naturally  as  the  proper  interval."  But 
among  educated  musicians  there  long  existed 
a  prejudice  against  the  use  of  these  acciden- 
tals, and  in  the  canto  fermo — the  plain-song  of 
the  Church — they  were  expressly  forbidden 
by  ecclesiastical  authority  ;  so  they  seldom 
appeared  in  writing,  but  the  choristers  were 
taught  to  introduce  them  correctly  at  sight, 
and  trained  singers  so  resented  the  introduc- 
tion of  what  they  considered  an  unnecessary 


82  Music 

accidental  that  they  called  it  '  signum  asini- 
num  ' — an  ass's  mark.* 

By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
the  ecclesiastical  scales  had  become  so  altered 
by  the  introduction  of  these  accidentals  that 
their  essential  characteristics  had  entirely 
disappeared,  and  they  were  finally  fused  into 
the  two  forms  of  the  Ionian  (C  major)  and 
iEolian  (which,  with  the  raised  seventh,  is 
the  modern  scale  of  A  minor).  For  a  long 
time  the  scale  of  C  major  was  called  the 
Ionian  and  the  scale  of  A  minor  the  ^Eolian 
— the  other  scales,  in  which  the  same  succes- 
sion of  whole  and  half-steps  was  obtained  by 
the  use  of  flats  and  sharps,  being  regarded  as 
transpositions  of  these  two. 

*  Even  now,  in  the  modern  minor  scale  the  raising  of  the 
seventh  is  effected  by  an  accidental,  instead  of  being  indicated 
in  the  signature,  as  it  logically  should  be. 


VI 

The  Opera 


M°. 


ODERN  music  dates  from  the  birth  of 
talian  opera  in  the  year  1600.  The 
union  of  music  with  dramatic  poetry  to 
heighten  the  emotional  effect  of  the  words 
existed,  however,  centuries  before  that  date. 
It  seems  to  be  established  almost  beyond  a 
doubt  that  the  Greek  drama,  which  probably 
originated  in  the  religious  pantomimic  dances 
that  were  always  accompanied  by  song,  was 
intoned,  or  chanted,  and  the  choruses  sung  to 
the  best  music  of  their  time.  Unfortunately, 
we  have  no  means  of  knowing  what  this  mu- 
sic was,  for  no  manuscripts  of  Greek  music- 
dramas  have  been  preserved,  and  for  many 
centuries  both  music  and  drama  were  alike 
forgotten.  But  after  the  night  of  the  dark 
ages  and  the  twilight  of  the  Middle  Ages 
came  the  dawn  of  the  Renaissance,  in  which 

S3 


84  Music 

the  admiration  for  everything  classical  be- 
came a  predominating  influence  in  the  devel- 
opment of  all  the  arts;  and  modern  opera 
was  the  result  of  an  effort  on  the  part  of  some 
enthusiastic  Italians  to  revive  the  style  of 
musical  declamation  which  they  supposed 
had  been  used  by  the  Greek  dramatists. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
a  little  circle  of  classical  scholars  and  cult- 
ured amateurs  met  frequently  at  the  house 
of  Giovanni  Bardi,  in  Florence,  to  discuss, 
from  an  intellectual  stand-point,  the  revival  of 
the  classic  drama — that  is,  a  drama  in  which 
the  expression  and  effect  of  the  poetry  are 
heightened  and  intensified  by  union  with  mu- 
sic. Among  them  were  also  two  or  three  mu- 
sicians who  endeavored  to  put  their  theories 
into  practice.  But  the  musical  art  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  which  consisted  exclusively  of 
the  artificial  devices  and  puzzling  intricacies 
of  counterpoint,  was  quite  incapable  of  ex- 
pressing anything  like  dramatic  emotion;  so 
they  concentrated  their  efforts  upon  the  inven- 
tion of  a  new  style,  resembling,  as  they  fondly 
hoped,  the  musical  declamation  of  the  ancient 
Greeks.  This  new  style  of  music  was  called 
homophonic,  or  monodic,  in  contradistinction 
to  polyphonic. 


The  Opera  85 

It  is  indispensable  to  have  a  clear  idea  of 
the  difference  between  the  two.  Polyphonic 
music  is  constructed  bv  interweaving  melo- 
dies— "  its  harmonies  are  not  aim,  but  result." 
Although  some  one  melody  is  taken  as  the 
foundation  of  a  polyphonic  composition,  this 
melody  is  generally  so  obscured  by  the  ad- 
dition of  others  as  to  become  almost  unrec- 
ognizable, and  has  absolutely  no  influence  as 
to  character  or  rhythm  upon  the  composition 
as  a  whole.  Homophonic,  monodic  music, 
on  the  contrary,  seeks  to  intensify  the  char- 
acter of  the  melody  by  an  accompaniment  of 
subordinate  harmonies,  so  that  the  composi- 
tion as  a  whole  is  dominated  by  the  melody. 
Contrapuntal  (polyphonic)  music  is  strictly 
impersonal  in  its  nature — though  each  part 
is  in  itself  complete  all  are  equally  subordi- 
nate to  the  whole ;  while  in  music  intended 
to  arouse  personal  emotion,  that  is,  dramatic 
music,  individualism  predominates  —  every- 
thing else  being  subordinated  to  one  promi- 
nent melodic  idea. 

Dramatic  performances  associated  with 
music  were  by  no  means  unknown  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  In  Italy  there  were  classical 
allegories,  in  England  and  France  masques 
and  ballets,  with  songs,  choruses,  dance  tunes 


86  Music 

and  instrumental  interludes.  But  in  these 
pieces  the  dialogue  was  spoken,  and  the 
music  merely  interpolated  to  increase  the 
pleasing  effect  of  the  whole.  Toward  the 
close  of  the  century  one  very  curious  and  in- 
teresting attempt  was  made  to  illustrate  the 
drama  by  high  class,  polyphonic  music.  In 
this  work,  which  the  composer,  Orazio  Vec- 
chi  (1551-1605),  calls  a  "harmonious  com- 
edy," the  story  is  told  in  a  series  of  madrigals 
for  five  voices  in  the  true  polyphonic  style. 
There  is  no  attempt  at  instrumental  accom- 
paniment, but  the  characters  who  appear 
upon  the  stage  are  supported  by  the  other 
voices  behind  the  scenes ;  these  voices  cor- 
responding in  a  measure  to  the  modern  or- 
chestra. 

But  this  kind  of  music  was  quite  incompe- 
tent to  illustrate  dramatic  poetry.  The  po- 
lyphonic style,  so  perfect  an  exponent  of  re- 
ligious sentiment,  failed  utterly  to  express  hu- 
man stress  and  passion,  and  the  founders  of  the 
Florentine  school  of  opera  started  out  in  quite 
a  different  direction.  It  was  upon  aesthetic 
grounds,  however,  not  musical,  that  the  in- 
ventors of  the  lyric  drama  rejected  poly- 
phony. As  music  they  acknowledged  the  val- 
ue of  the  older  compositions,  but  dramatic 


The  Opera  87 

expression  demanded  another  style.  Their 
first  invention  was  the  cantata — a  musical 
recitation  of  a  short  story  in  verse  by  a  single 
person  accompanied  by  a  single  instrument 
— and  some  of  these  compositions  were  pub- 
lished under  the  title  of  '  The  New  Music' 

These  cantatas,  which  were  quite  different 
from  the  modern  compositions  known  by  the 
same  name,  consisted  exclusively  of  recita- 
tive. The  aim  of  the  composers  was  not  to 
make  tunes,  but  to  intensify  the  expression 
of  the  words  by  declaiming  them  to  musical 
sounds.  Rhythmic  and  melodious  phrases 
were  purposely  avoided,  as  being  absolutely 
detrimental  to  the  desired  effect.  "  The  new 
music,"  says  a  contemporary  writer  (Giovanni 
Battista  Doni),  "  is  a  kind  of  melody  so  sung 
by  a  single  voice  that  the  words  are  well  un- 
derstood, with  little  dwelling  upon  single 
tones;  so  that  the  song  approaches  somewhat 
to  ordinary  speech,  but  is  more  expressive." 

Simple  melody,  with  little  or  no  accompani- 
ment, was  not  heard  for  the  first  time  in  Flor- 
ence at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It 
had  existed  in  popular  song  and  dance  tunes 
ages  before  the  birth  of  those  enthusiasts  who 
then  and  there  introduced  it  to  the  amateurs 
of  the   city.     But   it  had   been  accepted  by 


88  Music 

educated  musicians  only  as  the  canto  fermo 
on  which  to  build  their  great  polyphonic  com- 
positions, and  even  the  inventors  of  the  lyric 
drama,  who  repudiated  polyphony,  avoided 
formal  tunes  and  aimed  solely  at  the  exact 
rhetorical  rendering  of  the  words  by  what  is 
called  recitative. 

In  1597  the  first  opera,'  Dafne,'  by  Jacopo 
Peri,  was  privately  performed  at  the  Palazzo 
Corsi  in  Florence.  This  work,  which  has, 
unfortunately,  been  lost,  was  called  '  Dramma 
per  la  Musica,'  and  it  was  not  till  half  a  cen- 
tury later  that  the  word  opera  was  applied  to 
such  compositions.  The  success  of  Peri's 
first  effort  was  so  decided  that  he  was  invited 
to  provide  a  similar  work  for  the  festivities 
attending  the  marriage  of  King  Henry  IV.  of 
France  with  Maria  de'  Medici,  and  in  the 
year  1600  was  produced  in  Florence  his  fa- 
mous '  Euridice  ' — the  first  Italian  opera  ever 
performed  in  public.  Seven  years  later  was 
brought  out  in  Mantua,  on  the  occasion  of 
another  great  marriage,  an  opera  by  Claudio 
Monteverde  (1 566-1650),  a  composer  whose 
innovations  in  the  use  of  chords  had  already 
attracted  much  attention.  Monteverde's  chief 
innovations  were  in  the  use  of  the  imperfect, 
or  diminished,  triad  and  the  unprepared  dis- 


The  Opera  89 

sonances  of   the  chords  of   the  seventh   and 
ninth. 

Triads  are  of  three  kinds  :   major,  minor, 
and    imperfect,    or  diminished,  and  the    use 


$ 


Major.  Minor.         j  Imperfect  or  I 

I  diminished,  j 

of  the  diminished  triad  was  permitted  only 
under  restrictions  by  the  older  school.  Triads 
are  the  only  chords  which  are  consonances — 
that  is,  which  are  in  themselves  satisfactory 
to  the  ear  and  do  not  demand  to  be  followed 
by  other  harmonies — and  they  are  the  basis 
of  all  other  chords,  which  are  formed  from 
them  by  the  addition  of  superimposed  thirds. 


$ 


Triad.  I  Chord  of  the )       C  Chord  of  the  ) 

)     Seventh,     j      \       Ninth.       J 

In  these  chords  the  seventh  and  ninth  are 
dissonances  and  require  resolution — that  is, 
to  be  followed  by  their  nearest  related  triads. 


( Chord  of  the  )  i Chord  of  the  I 

1     Seventh,     }       Resolution.      (     Ninth.        )      Resolution. 


90  Music 

A  dissonance  is  said  to  be  prepared  when 
the  dissonant  tone  appears  first  as  a  conso- 
nance in  the  immediately  preceding  chord. 


I 


Prepara-        Disso        Resolu- 
tion, nance.        tion. 

In  later  times  the  use  of  unprepared  dis- 
sonances has  become  so  common  that  a  com- 
poser may  even  begin  with  a  chord  of  the 
seventh  or  ninth  without  exciting  remark;  but 
in  Monteverde's  day  these  harmonies  aroused 
as  much  opposition  and  controversy  as  any 
of  Wagner's  have  done  in  more  recent  )Tears. 
Monteverde's  genius  insured  the  success  of 
the  new  style.  He  not  only  emancipated  the 
dissonances,  making  them  a  principal  means 
of  passionate  expression,  but  not,  like  the 
Florentines,  content  merely  to  illustrate  the 
text  word  by  word  with  appropriate  melody, 
he  aimed  also  at  dramatic  characterization 
by  the  orchestra,  which  he  largely  increased. 

At  first  there  were  no  public  opera-houses 
— the  musical  drama  was  an  entertainment 
reserved  for  the  courts  of  princes  and  made 


The  Opera  91 

the  occasion  for  fabulous  display  on  occa- 
sions of  public  festivity — but  in  1637  the  first 
opera-house  was  opened  in  Venice,  and  the 
passion  for  musical  representations  soon 
spread  throughout  ItSly.  In  Venice,  Cavalli 
(1 599-1676),  a  pupil  of  Monteverde,  first  in- 
troduced fluent,  rhythmic  melody — what  we 
call  tune — into  the  opera,  and  with  him  begins 
a  departure  from  the  ideal  of  the  Florentines. 
Their  first  principle  was  that  the  music  should 
be  only  a  means  of  intensifying  the  expression 
of  the  poetry.  They  had  no  thought  of  mak- 
ing tunes — melodies  which  might  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  text  and  played  on  an  instru- 
ment with  pleasing  effect.  The  recitatives 
which  they  composed  are  absolutely  meaning- 
less without  the  words.  But  with  Cavalli  the 
music  begins  to  assert  an  independence  that 
rapidly  developed  into  a  mastery,  and  before 
long  dominated  the  whole  structure  of  the 
opera  to  the  destruction  of  all  dramatic  effect. 
An  immense  number  of  operas  was  pro- 
duced during  the  seventeenth  century;  slight 
works,  often  little  more  than  mere  excuses 
for  the  display  of  gorgeous  costumes  and 
the  art  of  the  stage  machinist.  The  Ital- 
ians had  long  been  accustomed  to  displays  of 
great  magnificence  upon  occasions  of  public 


92  Music 

great  magnificence  upon  occasions  of  public 
festival,  and  a  splendid  setting  soon  became  in- 
dispensable to  the  success  of  a  musical  drama. 

Alessandro  Scarlatti  (1659-172  5),  the  father 
of  the  famous  harpsichord  player,  was  by 
far  the  best  composer  of  this  period.  He 
developed  and  fixed  the  form  of  the  aria  by 
the  addition  of  a  second  part  followed  by  that 
repetition  of  the  first  part  known  as  the  Da 
Capo  —  which  monotonous  form  predomi- 
nated in  the  opera  for  more  than  a  century. 
Scarlatti,  who  was  thoroughly  trained  in  the 
science  of  composition,  did  much  for  the  de- 
velopment of  instrumental  music,  also ;  his 
accompaniments  being  far  superior  to  those 
of  any  of  his  predecessors.  The  earlier  dra- 
matic composers  thought  the  study  of  coun- 
terpoint unnecessary,  and  were  content  to 
accompany  their  recitatives  with  only  a  few 
simple  chords;  but  Scarlatti  brought  all  the 
resources  of  musical  art  to  the  support  of  the 
new  style,  and  thus  placed  modern  music 
upon  a  secure  foundation. 

The  '  Euridici '  of  Peri,  performed  at  Flor- 
ence in  the  year  1600,  excited  an  extraordi- 
nary amount  of  attention  throughout  the  mu- 
sical world,  and  everywhere  composers  were 
fired  with  ambition  to  emulate  its  success. 
England  in  the  seventeenth  century  produced 


The  Opera  93 

her  greatest  native  composer,  Henry  Purcell 
(1658-95),  whose  operas  are  quite  equal  to 
those  of  his  contemporaries.  He,  unfortunate- 
ly, died  too  young  to  found  a  school  and  has 
had  no  worthy  successor.  As  early  as  1627, 
'  Dafne,'  translated  into  German,  and  set  to 
music  by  Heinrich  Schtitz  (1 585-1672),  was 
performed  at  Torgau,  but  the  real  founda- 
tions of  German  opera  were  laid  at  Hamburg 
by  Reinhard  Keiser  (1673- 1739),  who  has  the 
honor  of  being  the  first  of  that  great  German 
school  to  which  the  world  is  indebted  for  its 
finest  dramatic  composers.  In  France  the 
first  opera  performed  in  public  was  '  Pomone  ' 
(1669),  by  Cambert  and  Perrin,  but  the  true 
founder  of  French  opera  was  Giovanni  Bat- 
tista  Lulli  (1633-87),  an  Italian,  brought  as 
a  child  to  France,  and  early  taken  into  favor 
by  the  king  for  his  skill  in  composing  the 
ballets  in  which  the  youthful  monarch,  who 
was  passionately  fond  of  dancing,  himself 
took  part.  Lulli  invented  a  style  of  recita- 
tive so  perfectly  adapted  to  illustrate  the  best 
French  dramatic  poetry  that  it  became  the 
foundation  of  the  French  grand  opera.* 

*  In  the  French  grand  opera  every  word  is  sung  to  orchestral 
accompaniment.  In  the  opera  comique,  on  the  contrary,  the 
dialogue  is  spoken. 


94  Music 

He  was  also  the  inventor  of  the  overture. 
The  early  Italian  operas  were  preceded  only 
by  a  very  brief  introduction,  called  sinfonia. 
Even  Monteverde,  with  whom  the  orchestra 
becomes  of  greatly  increased  importance,  in- 
troduces '  Orfeo '  with  only  a  short  prelude 
of  nine  measures  twice  repeated.  But  Lulli's 
overture  consisted  of  a  slow  introduction  fol- 
lowed by  an  allegro  and  ending  with  a  dance 
movement — a  form  which  became  extremely 
popular,  and  long  served  as  a  model  for  com- 
posers. 

Lulli's  greatest  follower  was  Jean  Philippe 
Rameau  (1683- 1764),  who  is  better  known 
to-day  as  theorist  than  as  musician.  In  his 
celebrated  treatise  on  harmony  he  shows  for 
the  first  time  the  derivation  of  chords  from 
roots,  or  fundamental  basses,  and,  also  for 
the  first  time,  advances  the  theory,  since 
quite  generally  accepted,  that  all  chords 
are  formed  by  the  addition  of  superimposed 
thirds  to  the  triad.  The  bass  of  a  mu- 
sical composition  is  its  lowest  part;  but  as 
chords  may  be  inverted,  or  rearranged,  the 
lowest  tone  is  not  always  that  which  would 
be  the  lowest  in  the  original  form,  or  first 
position,  of  the  chord.  That  tone,  although 
transferred  to  an  upper  part,  is  still  its  root, 


The  Opera  95 

or  fundamental  bass.  Before  harmony  was 
reduced  to  a  science,  each  chord  was  con- 
sidered as  a  distinct  and  individual  combina- 
tion. Modern  harmonists  regard  chords 
as  belonging  to  groups,  or  families,  related 
through  their  roots,  or  fundamental  basses, 
and  classify  them  accordingly. 

Rameau's  operas  are  chiefly  remembered 
in  connection  with  the  'guerre  des  bouffons.' 
The  'opera  buffa'  originated  in  the  inter- 
mezzi, or  interludes,  which  in  very  early 
times  it  was  customary  to  present  between  the 
acts  of  a  serious  drama.  The  old  Roman 
comedies  had  their  satires,  the  mysteries 
and  miracle  plays  of  the  Middle  Ages  hymns 
and  carols  sung  between  the  acts,  and  early 
Italian  plays  were  almost  always  relieved  by 
intermezzi.  At  first  these  consisted  merely 
of  madrigals,  or  canzonette,  but  gradually  the 
intermezzi  came  to  embody  a  distinct  little 
story  of  their  own,  having  no  connection 
whatever  with  that  of  the  principal  drama ; 
and  finally  they  became  so  popular  that  they 
were  given  entire  as  separate  pieces.  One 
of  the  most  celebrated  of  these  intermezzi, 
'  La  Serva  Padrona,'  of  Pergolesi— that  brill- 
iant young  Italian,  the  flame  of  whose  genius 
was   scarcely    lighted    before    it    was    extin- 


96  Music 

guished  by  death — was  the  occasion  of  the 
'guerre  des  bouffons'  which  split  the  Paris- 
ian public  into  partisans  of  French  and  Ital- 
ian music,  enlisting  in  support  of  the  latter 
the  genius  of  Rousseau,  and  arousing  an  ex- 
citement surpassed  only  by  the  Gluck  and 
Piccini  feud  a  few  years  later. 

By  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  lyric  drama  had  become  a  favorite,  though 
always  aristocratic,  entertainment  in  all  the 
principal  cities  of  Europe.  Modern  music 
was  firmly  established,  and  already  highly 
developed.* 

But  the  great  development  of  music,  and  es- 
pecially of  extreme  virtuosity  among  singers, 
had  destroyed  the  balance  between  music 
and  poetry  in  the  opera.  The  drama  had  be- 
come of  little  importance  save  as  affording 
opportunities  for  musical  display,  and  the 
singer  ruled  both  poet  and  composer.     In  the 

*  However,  the  very  best  of  the  operas  which  the  earlier 
composers  turned  out  by  the  dozen,  or  even  by  the  hundred, 
was  a  very  slight  affair  compared  to  anything  that  we  should 
consider  worthy  of  the  name.  A  few  airs,  the  elaboration  and 
embellishment  of  which  were  entrusted  to  the  singers,  con- 
nected by  recitatives  with  the  simplest  of  accompaniments,  a 
figured  bass  to  be  filled  out  with  chords  by  the  harpsichord 
player,  and  parts  for  strings  and  a  few  wind  instruments  were 
all  that  was  required  of  the  composer. 


The  Opera  97 

earliest  Italian  operas  the  characters  were 
divided  between  men  and  women  ;  but  in  the 
time  of  Cavalli  the  artificial  male  sopranists 
began  to  usurp  the  roles  of  the  latter,  and 
after  the  pope  forbade  the  appearance  of 
women  upon  the  Roman  stage  the  soprano 
and  contralto  parts  were  sung  almost  entire- 
ly by  these  artificial  voices.  Even  in  those 
operas  in  which  women  sang  the  female  roles 
the  artificial  sopranos  and  contraltos  monopo- 
lized all  the  principal  airs,  compelling  the 
composer  to  minister  to  their  vanity  without 
any  regard  to  the  development  of  the  drama; 
and  as  great  singers  became  numerous  the 
opera  degenerated  into  a  mere  collection  of 
arias  with  a  pretence  of  connection  by  a 
thread  of  recitative.  These  arias,  though  dif- 
fering as  to  the  character  of  the  music,  were 
all  alike  constructed  upon  the  same  plan — the 
first  and  second  parts  followed  by  the  inevit- 
able Da  Capo.  Some  of  them  contain  most 
amazingly  difficult  passages,  composed  especi- 
ally for  those  great  vocalists  whose  art  appar- 
ently consisted  in  the  perfect  mechanical  de- 
livery of  brilliant  passages  and  elaborate  em- 
bellishments. The  famous  singing  master, 
Niccolo  Porpora,  is  said  to  have  spent  five 
years   training  his   pupil,  the   celebrated   so- 


98  Music 

pranist  Caffarelli,  in  the  execution  of  one  page 
of  transcendently  difficult  exercises,  and  then 
dismissed  him,  saying  :  "  I  have  nothing  more 
to  teach  you — you  are  the  greatest  singer  in 
Europe." 

It  is  not  as  music  that  the  aria  has  been 
condemned  by  critics  and  reformers.  Some 
arias  will  always  delight  the  most  cultured 
and  critical  hearers.  But  when  in  the  most 
dramatic  situations  the  action  is  suspended 
while  the  hero  or  heroine,  or  both  captivate 
the  audience  with  elaborate  displays  of  vo- 
calism,  and  the  development  of  the  drama 
is  constantly  hindered  by  the  music  which 
was  intended  to  illustrate  it,  there  is  room 
for  just  criticism. 

At  the  climax  of  its  degeneracy,  when  the 
drama  was  completely  dominated  by  the 
music  and  the  composer  ruled  by  the  singer, 
upon  whom  the  success  of  his  work  in  no 
small  degree  depended,  appeared  the  first  re- 
former of  these  abuses,  Christoph  Willibald 
Gluck  (1714-87).  Gluck,  who  in  his  early 
days  had  himself  composed  successfully  in 
the  Italian  style,  becoming  convinced  that  it 
was  based  upon  wrong  principles,  set  to  work 
deliberately  and  conscientiously  to  effect  a 
reform.     In  his  celebrated  dedication  of  '  Al- 


The  Opera  99 

ceste  '  he  says :  "  I  endeavored  to  reduce 
music  to  its  proper  function — that  of  second- 
ing poetry  by  enforcing  the  expression  of  the 
sentiment  and  the  interest  of  the  situation 
without  interrupting  the  action  or  weakening 
it  by  superfluous  ornament.  My  object  was 
to  put  an  end  to  all  those  abuses  which  had 
crept  into  Italian  opera  through  the  mistaken 
vanity  of  singers  and  the  unwise  compliance 
of  composers,  and  against  which  good  taste 
and  good  sense  have  long  protested  in  vain." 
The  first  tangible  embodiment  of  these  ideas 
was  '  Orpheus,'  a  work  which,  produced  first 
in  Vienna,  soon  made  Gluck's  name  known 
all  over  Europe.  But  his  greatest  success 
was  in  Paris  under  the  patronage  and  protec- 
tion of  his  former  pupil,  the  dauphiness  Marie 
Antoinette.  On  the  French  stage  dramatic 
propriety  had  never  been  entirely  sacrificed 
to  musical  effect,  and  audiences  accustomed 
to  the  fine  declamation  of  Lulli  and  Rameau 
were  well  prepared  to  comprehend  the  aes- 
thetic principles  upon  which  Gluck's  reform 
was  based.  He  at  first  carried  everything 
before  him.  '  Iphigenia  in  Aulis,'  '  Orpheus,' 
and  '  Alceste  '  were  produced,  and  received 
with  great  enthusiasm.  But  such  success  was 
certain  to  excite  opposition.     Piccini,  an  ex- 


i  oo  Music 

cellent  musician,  although  no  match  for 
Gluck,  was  brought  from  Italy  to  be  its  instru- 
ment, and  court  and  society  alike  separated 
into  hostile  ranks.  Everybody,  who  was  any- 
body, declared  himself  either  Gluckist  or 
Piccinist,  and  the  wit  and  eloquence  of  the 
day  were  divided  between  the  opposing  fac- 
tions. Criticism  was  answered  by  epigram 
and  satire  with  abuse,  and  the  excitement 
aroused  is  almost  incredible.  Gluck  was  re- 
proached with  having  no  melody  and  making 
his  singers  shriek,  with  his"  noisy  orchestra" 
and  "harsh  harmonies."  Write  Wagner  for 
Gluck  and  one  can  almost  fancy  one's  self  a 
century  later.  However,  '  Iphigenia  in  Tau- 
rus,' which  was  the  most  complete  embodi- 
ment of  Gluck's  ideas,  assured  him  a  victory 
over  all  rivals.  Those  ideas  have  already 
been  presented  in  his  own  words.  His  ideal 
was  the  same  as  that  to  which  the  Florentine 
founders  of  the  lyric  drama  sought  to  give 
expression  in  the  as  yet  imperfect  medium  of 
the  '  new  music ; '  and  Gluck  showed  that  the 
highest  development  of  musical  art  might  be 
used  in  the  interest  of  the  drama,  instead  of 
sacrificing  all  dramatic  effect  to  gratify  the 
desire  of  singers  and  hearers  for  brilliant  dis- 
play. 


The  Opera  101 

While  the  strife  of  the  Gluckists  and  Pic- 
cinists  was  at  its  height,  there  came  to  Paris, 
where  he  failed  to  obtain  even  a  hearing, 
the  most  remarkable  prodigy  and  precocious 
musical  genius  the  world  has  ever  seen — 
Wolfgang  Amadeus  Mozart  (1756-91).  This 
gifted  youth,  who  at  the  age  of  fourteen  had 
written  a  successful  opera,  was  now  at  twenty- 
one  a  master  of  every  form  of  composition. 
But  the  musical  world  of  Paris  was  so  blinded 
by  the  excitement  of  the  Gluck  and  Piccini 
controversy  that  it  failed  to  perceive  the  new- 
ly risen  star  ;  and  Mozart  returned  to  his  na- 
tive land,  where,  beset  by  trials  and  disap- 
pointments and  always  under  the  pressure 
of  extreme  poverty,  he  lived  out  his  brief  ex- 
istence. 

Mozart  did  much  for  the  development  of 
dramatic  music,  inspiring  the  forms  of  Italian 
opera  with  fresh  vitality,  but  he  was  never  a 
reformer  of  its  abuses.  Although  he  greatly 
increased  the  capacity  of  music  for  illustrat- 
ing poetic  intention,  and  far  surpassed  all  his 
predecessors  in  his  use  of  the  orchestra  as  a 
medium  of  dramatic  effect,  he  made  no  effort 
to  change  the  relation  of  music  and  drama  in 
the  opera.  He  was  too  exclusively  a  musi- 
cian— interested  in  the  drama  only  as  afford- 


102  Music 

ing  opportunities  for  his  own  art.  The  per- 
fect musical  expression  of  the  sentiment  of 
each  situation  and  the  genuine  touches  of 
true  dramatic  pathos  which  will  always 
compel  admiration  for  Mozart's  music,  are 
not  incompatible  with  the  fact  that  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  interrupt  the  action  for  its 
introduction.  He,  "  the  most  absolute  of 
all  musicians,"  would  never  for  a  moment 
have  thought  of  subordinating  music  to  the 
drama. 

The  principles  formulated  by  Gluck  were 
followed  by  Cherubini  (1760- 1842),  whose 
operas  were  so  much  admired  by  Beethoven, 
and  by  Spontini  (1784-185 1),  whose  gorgeous 
dramatic  and  spectacular  productions  domi- 
nated the  great  operatic  stages  of  Europe  for 
many  years.  Both  these  composers  were 
Italians  by  birth  and  training  whose  genius 
was  developed  under  the  influence  of  the 
great  German  reformer,  and  whose  greatest 
successes  were  made  in  the  French  capital. 
But  their  influence  upon  French  opera  was 
transitory,  and  it  was  in  Germany  that  their 
works  met  with  the  most  enduring  apprecia- 
tion. Probably  the  most  representative  com- 
poser of  the  modern  French  grand  opera  is 
Meyerbeer  (1791-1864),  to  whose  admixture 


The  Opera  103 

of  gorgeous  spectacular  effects  and  ballet 
with  music  which  is  by  no  means  lacking  in 
truly  dramatic  moments,  its  brilliant  reputa- 
tion is  largely  due. 

'  Fidelio,'  Beethoven's  single  opera,  stands 
alone,  and  seems  to  have  had  no  influence 
whatever  upon  the  development  of  this  form 
of  art.  Beethoven  (1 770-1 827)  was  pre-emi- 
nently an  instrumentalist,  and  beautiful  as  is 
the  music  of  '  Fidelio,'  it  is  yet,  as  has  been 
said,  "more  like  a  symphony  for  voices  and 
orchestra  than  the  musical  complement  of  a 
dramatic  poem." 

In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century  the 
genius  of  Rossini  (1792- 1868)  effected  a  tem- 
porary regeneration  of  Italian  opera  —  his 
wonderful  gift  of  melody  infusing  new  life 
into  the  old  forms  and  captivating  all  Europe. 
But  the  glamour  of  this  wealth  of  melodious 
beauty  could  not  long  conceal  the  fact  that 
the  poetic  foundation  was  still  a  mere  excuse 
for  the  display  of  brilliant  ornamentation  and 
fascinating  dance  rhythms,  and  it  is  only  tow- 
ard the  close  of  the  century  that  we  find, 
at  the  hands  of  the  venerable  maestro  Ver- 
di (181 3-  ),  who  is,  perhaps,  the  most  re- 
markable example  of  artistic  progress  and  de- 
velopment on  record — a  real  regeneration  of 


104  Music 

Italian  art ;  so  real  that  it  seems  almost  to 
foreshadow  for  Italy,  the  birthplace  of  opera, 
the  recovery  of  her  ancient  position  at  the 
head  of  musical  Europe. 

The  founder  of  what  is  known  as  the  Ger- 
man Romantic  school  of  opera  was  Carl 
Maria  von  Weber  (i  786-1 826),  a  composer 
whose  influence  is  apparent  in  even  the  latest 
development  of  German  art.  The  derivation 
of  the  word  romantic  explains  its  meaning — 
the  mediaeval  legends  and  tales  of  love  and 
chivalry  written  in  the  old  Romance  dialects 
being  called  romances.  The  group  of  Ger- 
man writers  who  about  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century  rescued  these  old  romances 
from  oblivion,  came  to  be  known  as  the  Ro- 
mantic school  of  literature ;  and  the  term  was 
applied  also  to  Weber's  operas,  all  of  which 
are  founded  upon  romantic  subjects.  The 
music  which  illustrates  a  romantic  poem  is 
naturally  less  restricted  by  form  than  that 
which  is  called  classical — it  must  express,  as 
freely  and  directly  as  possible,  the  poetic 
imaginings  of  the  composer  ;  so,  when  these 
terms  are  applied  to  pure,  absolute  music,  not 
associated  with  words,  classical  music  is  mu- 
sic composed  in  the  established  forms  (sym- 
phony,  sonata,  rondo,   etc.),  while   romantic 


The  Opera  105 

music  seeks  simply  to  give  the  most  direct  and 
vivid  expression  to  the  thoughts  and  feelings 
of  the  composer.  Classical  composers  are 
those  who  have  developed  accepted  musical 
forms  into  an  adequate  medium  for  the  ex- 
pression of  their  thoughts.  Romantic  com- 
posers are  those  who  have  expressed  their 
ideas  in  the  most  direct  manner,  irrespective 
of  any  formal  limitations.  But  since  the  word 
classical  *  means,  primarily,  of  the  first  rank, 
when  a  musician  of  to-day  composes  in  the  re- 
gular, established  forms,  we  do  not  say  that 
his  work  is  classical,  but  only  in  the  classical 
style.  If  time  proves  that  his  work  is  really 
of  the  first  rank,  classicus,  then  it  is  called 
classical. 

Weber's  opera  is  founded  on  the '  volkslied  ' 
— that  form  of  song  which,  Ambros  says,  is 
in  its  importance  for  the  European  develop- 
ment of  music  second  only  to  the  Grego- 
rian chants.  A  volkslied  is  a  song  of  the 
people.  It  is  a  composition  without  a  com- 
poser.     When    the    improvised    melody  of 

*  From  the  division  of  the  citizens  of  ancient  Rome  into 
ranks  or  classes  according  to  their  incomes,  for  purposes  of  tax- 
ation. The  citizen  of  the  highest  rank  was  called  simply  clas- 
sicus— of  the  class — just  as  we  say  men  of  rank,  implying  of 
the  first  rank. — Trench. 


106  Music 

some  primitive  singer  pleases  the  hearers,  it 
is  naturally  remembered  and  repeated — oc- 
casionally with  variations  which,  if  they  com 
mend  themselves  to  their  audience,  are  ac- 
cepted as  part  of  the  song  ;  and  so,  from  gen- 
eration to  generation  the  melody  is  passed  on, 
and  modified  by  one  singer  after  another  un- 
til it  is  finally  written  down  by  some  collec- 
tor of  volkslieder.  A  melody  which  is  com- 
posed in  the  style  of  a  volkslied  is  called 
'  volksthiimlich,'  but  a  true  volkslied  has  no 
recognized  composer.  The  charm  of  the 
volkslied  lies  in  its  concise  and  regular  form 
and  its  direct  expression  of  popular  feeling  ; 
and  these  qualities  Weber  embodied  in  his 
music. 

Weber  excelled  all  of  his  predecessors  in 
his  use  of  the  orchestra  as  a  means  of  dra- 
matic characterization.  Before  his  time,  in- 
struments were  used  chiefly  to  support  the 
voices  and  impart  sonority  to  the  general  ef- 
fect, but  Weber,  with  a  marvellous  compre- 
hension of  the  capacity  of  each  instrument, 
uses  them  to  characterize  both  situations  and 
personages. 

Richard  Wagner  (1813-83)  is  the  most  re- 
cent reformer  of  the  opera,  and  his  reform 
is  so  radical,  and  apparently  so  enduring,  that 


The  Opera  107 

all  the  dramatic  music  of  the  last  few  decades 
is  more  or  less  affected  by  his  ideas.  With 
unwonted  generosity  nature  made  him  both 
poet  and  musician,  and  his  dual  genius  seems 
finally  to  have  reached  the  goal  toward  which 
the  Florentine  enthusiasts  of  the  year  1600 
set  their  faces,  and  successfully  united  the  sis- 
ter arts  of  music  and  poetry — born  twins,  but 
long  associated  under  such  unnatural  condi- 
tions as  made  them  often  appear  like  enemies. 
Wagner  starts  with  the  assumption  that 
there  is  no  possibility  of  further  development 
for  music  exxept  in  connection  with  the  dra- 
ma ;  that  the  composer  must  be  inspired  by  a 
definite  poetic  idea,  and  that  the  mission  of 
music  is  to  receive  this  idea  and  bring  it 
forth  again  transfigured  and  sublimated.  He 
himself  has  told  us  how  unintentionally  he 
became  a  reformer.  He  was  always  his  own 
librettist,  and  having  early  decided  that 
mythical  and  legendary  subjects  are  best  for 
musical  treatment,  he  says  that  the  freedom 
of  mythical  types  implied  the  liberation  of 
the  music  itself.  "  Therefore,"  says  Wagner, 
"  the  nature  of  the  subject  could  not  induce 
me  in  sketching  my  scenes  to  consider  in  ad- 
vance their  adaptability  to  any  abstract  musi- 
cal form,  the  particular  kind  of  musical  treat- 


108  Music 

ment  being  necessitated  by  these  scenes 
themselves.  It  could  not  enter  my  mind  to 
engraft  on  this  my  musical  form,  growing  as 
it  did  out  of  the  nature  of  the  scenes,  the  tra- 
ditional forms  of  operatic  music,  which  could 
only  have  marred  and  interrupted  its  organic 
progress.  I,  therefore,  never  thought  of  con- 
templating on  principle  and  as  a  deliberate 
reformer  the  destruction  of  the  aria,  the  duet 
and  other  operatic  forms,  but  the  dropping 
of  these  forms  followed  consistently  from  the 
nature  of  my  subjects." 

For  these  musical  forms  Wagner  substi- 
tutes the  continuous  melody  which  glorifies 
the  poetic  text.  This  melody  is  upborne  by 
the  orchestra,  which  is  no  longer  merely  an 
accompaniment,  but  has  become  one  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  the  exposition  of 
the  drama.  Wagner's  orchestra  has  been  com- 
pared to  the  chorus  of  Greek  tragedy,  which, 
sometimes  continuing  the  narrative,  some- 
times commenting  upon  it,  always  heightened 
the  dramatic  effect.  Liszt  says  in  his  essay 
on  '  Lohengrin  '  :  "  To  the  orchestra  he  en- 
trusts the  function  of  revealing  to  us  the 
soul,  the  passions,  the  feelings,  even  the  most 
transient  emotions  of  his  characters.  His 
orchestra  becomes  the  echo,  the  transparent 


The  Opera  109 

veil  through  which  we  note  all  their  heart- 
beats. In  it  we  hear  the  angry  cry  of  hatred, 
the  raving  of  revenge,  the  whisperings  of 
love,  the  ecstasy  of  adoration." 

It  is  by  the  use  of  what  are  called  lead- 
ing motives  that  Wagner's  orchestra  is  thus 
intimately  associated  with  the  action  of  the 
drama.  With  every  agency  concerned  in  its 
development  is  identified  a  typical  musical 
phrase,  that  recurs  whenever  the  agency  with 
which  it  is  associated  is  present,  even  by  sug- 
gestion. From  these  themes  Wagner,  with 
an  unsurpassed  command  of  the  orchestra, 
weaves  a  grand  symphony,  which  constantly 
enforces  the  action  of  the  drama  and  intensi- 
fies its  passion.  These  leading  motives  are 
not  stereotyped,  but  are  like  living  organisms, 
changing  and  developing  with  the  characters 
and  situations  which  they  illustrate.  Though 
typical  phrases  that  might  be  called  leading 
motives  are  to  be  found  in  the  works  of  ear- 
lier composers,  their  marvellous  use  as  a  dis- 
tinct principle  in  the  construction  of  an  or- 
chestral exposition  of  the  drama  is  entirely 
original  with  Wagner. 

For  the  realization  of  his  ideal  of  the  true 
music-drama  Wagner  demands  the  co-oper- 
ation of  all  the  arts — laying  almost  as  much 


no  Music 

stress  upon  scenic  effects  and  the  mimetic 
art  as  upon  the  poetry  and  music,  but  mak- 
ing each  and  all  subservient  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  drama. 

In  his  perception  of  chord  relationships 
Wagner  went  far  beyond  any  of  his  predeces- 
sors. It  is  not  a  matter  for  wonder  that  his 
daring  use  of  harmonic  progressions  as  yet 
unrecognized  should  have  repelled  conserva- 
tive musicians  and  excited  harsh  criticism. 
It  is  difficult  for  the  present  generation,  which 
has  been  brought  up  on  such  harmonies,  to 
realize  the  first  effect  of  these  progressions. 
The  same  old  story  is  repeated  everywhere 
in  human  history — the  strife  of  conservatism 
against  progress,  the  opposition  of  tradition 
and  aspiration.  The  conservative  element, 
well  called  the  ballast  of  human  society,  has 
always  opposed  innovation ;  and,  after  all,  it 
is  right  that  what  is  new  should  be  tested  by 
opposition  before  being  accepted.  Nothing 
really  worthy  of  acceptance  has  ever  been 
hindered  by  it  longer  than  was  necessary  for 
comprehension  and  appreciation.  Innovat- 
ing musicians  have  always  been  compelled 
to  educate  a  new  generation  of  hearers,  and 
these  in  their  turn  become  conservatives. 
Perhaps  there  is  even  now  in  the  world  a  com- 


The  Opera  1 1 1 

poser  who  will  use  chords  in  yet  more  distant 
relationships,  and  the  present  generation  may 
in  its  old  age  shake  its  head  in  disapproval 
and  point  to  Wagner  as  a  model  of  simplici- 
ty and  clearness. 


VII 

The  Oratorio 


FROM  very  early  times  dramatic  perform- 
ances have  been  used  to  teach  moral  and 
religious  truth  and  instruct  the  people  in 
history  and  legend.  Long  before  any  but 
priests  and  a  few  scholars  were  able  to  read 
for  themselves,  or,  indeed,  before  there  were 
any  books,  save  a  few  precious  manuscripts, 
there  were  the  miracle  plays  and  myster- 
ies and  moralities  which  are  so  often  men- 
tioned in  mediaeval  records,  and  which  did 
more  for  the  instruction  of  the  people  in  sa- 
cred history  than  could  possibly  have  been 
accomplished  by  the  mere  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  churches.  They  were 
a  kind  of  object  teaching  for  a  population 
which  was  still  in  the  kindergarten  de- 
partment of  education.  The  subjects  of  the 
plays  were  the  stories  of  the  Old  and  New 

112 


The  Oratorio  113 


Testaments,  the  lives  of  saints,  or  allegories 
intended  to  teach  religion  and  morality,*  and 
it  is  from  these  primitive  performances,  which 
were  usually  associated  with  music,  that  the 
modern  oratorio  has  been  developed. 

There  is  no  record  of  when  or  where  the 
dramatic  representation  of  a  sacred  story 
was  first  attempted.  As  early  as  the  twelfth 
century  crude  performances  of  scenes  from 
Scripture  history  were  not  uncommon,  and 
were  recognized  by  the  Church  as  a  valuable 
means  of  enforcing  her  own  principles  and 
precepts.  But  though  these  performances 
were  often  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Church,  the  majority  of  them  were  given  by 
strolling  companies,  who  frequently  travelled 
about  in  a  kind  of  carriage  which  could  be 
turned  into  a  theatre.  This  was  usually  made 
ready  in  the  inn  courtyard,  the  open  galleries 
surrounding  it  being  occupied  by  the  spec- 
tators, but  frequently  such  movable  theatres 
were  set  up  in  the  city  streets,  where  an  audi- 
ence was  always  at  hand  ;  and  though  these 
mediaeval  performances  may  seem  to  us  gro- 
tesque,  and  perhaps  irreverent,   they  assur- 

*  The  miracle  play  in  Longfellow's  '  Golden  Legend  '  gives 
a  very  good  idea  of  one. 


114  Music 

edly  were  not  so  to  either  performers  or  on- 
lookers. Finally,  however,  they  became  so 
corrupted  by  the  introduction  of  absurd 
stories  and  traditions,  and  of  comic  and  vul- 
gar soliloquies  and  dialogues,  that  they  were 
prohibited  by  the  Church ;  yet  there  were 
many  who  advocated  their  reformation  rather 
than  their  absolute  discontinuance.  San  Fil- 
ippo  Neri,  who  was  a  friend  of  Palestrina  and 
a  great  lover  of  music,  thought  very  highly 
of  them  as  a  means  of  instruction,  and  had 
them  frequently  performed  in  the  oratory  of 
his  church — whence  the  performances  them- 
selves came  to  be  called  oratorios. 

The  year  1600,  which  saw  the  birth  of 
monodic  music  in  the  Florence  opera,  wit- 
nessed also  the  production  in  Rome  of  the 
first  real  oratorio — '  L'Animo  e  Corpo,'  by 
Emilio  del  Cavalieri.  In  this  work,  which  is 
an  allegory  and  the  direct  descendant  of  the 
moralities  that  were  so  popular  in  Italy  in  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  the  same 
ideas  regarding  music  reform  were  applied  to 
a  moral  and  religious  text.  The  composer, 
who  had  been  '  inspector  of  arts '  in  Florence, 
had  there  heard  not  only  the  first  opera,  but 
also,  probably,  the  discussions  which  resulted 
in  the  invention  of  the  new  style  of  music ; 


The  Oratorio  1 1  £ 


and  the  influence  of  the  new  ideas  is  appar- 
ent in  his  work.  The  directions  for  its  per- 
formance included  scenery,  costumes,  acting 
and  even  dancing  on  a  regular  stage — for  at 
first  the  oratorio  differed  from  the  opera  only 
in  the  choice  of  its  subjects. 

The  development  of  early  Italian  oratorio 
corresponded  exactly  with  that  of  early  Italian 
opera — both  being  treated  by  the  same  com- 
posers in  very  nearly  the  same  manner — and 
the  musical  value  of  both  operas  and  oratorios 
is  exceedingly  small,  judged  by  our  standard. 
But  as  monodic  music  rapidly  developed  and 
great  singers  became  numerous,  the  oratorio, 
like  the  opera,  began  to  degenerate  into  a 
mere  occasion  for  vocal  display.  Although 
the  music  of  Palestrina  and  his  associates  re- 
mained the  officially  recognized  style  of  the 
papal  chapel,  the  enthusiastic  admirers  of  the 
new  music  succeeded  in  introducing  it  and 
its  virtuoso  effects  into  the  churches,  which 
became  almost  like  concert-halls.  Nuns  were 
as  renowned  for  their  performances  as  prima 
donnas,  and  a  difference  between  religious 
and  secular  music  was  scarcely  dreamed  of. 

The  German  composers  were  never  so  car- 
ried away  by  the  new  style  of  music — the 
monodic — as  to  neglect  the  science  of  com- 


n6  Music 

position,  like  the  Italians,  and,  moreover,  they 
never  forgot  the  distinction  between  sacred 
music  and  secular.  In  Germany  the  devel- 
opment of  oratorio  was  much  influenced  by 
the  chorale — that  form  of  song  from  which 
our  modern  hymn  tune  is  derived. 

We  know  from  the  New  Testament  narra- 
tive that  it  was  customary  for  the  Jews  to 
sing  hymns.  The  early  Christians  carried 
the  custom  to  Rome,  and  in  all  probability 
the  melodies  which  echoed  through  the  cata- 
combs were  the  same  that  had  been  heard  in 
Jerusalem.  But  when  the  Church  emerged 
from  her  obscurity  and  began  to  be  housed 
in  stately  edifices  and  her  service  celebrated 
with  an  elaborate  and  impressive  ritual,  the 
congregational  singing  was  superseded  by 
that  of  trained  choirs.  However,  the  people 
continued  to  sing  hymns,  and  as  early  as  the 
fifteenth  century  collections  of  these  began 
to  be  published.  For  many  centuries  hymns 
were  sung  by  all  the  voices  in  unison  ;  but 
after  the  invention  of  discant  and  counter- 
point the  original  tunes  were  supported  and 
surrounded  by  accompanying  melodies,  both 
below  and  above.  In  the  hymns  of  all  an- 
cient collections  the  principal  melody  is  al- 
ways given  to  the  tenor  voice  ;  which,  indeed, 


The  Oratorio  117 


received  its  name  because  it  held  or  kept  the 
principal  part.  In  early  times,  when  women 
were  not  permitted  to  sing-  in  the  church 
choirs,  it  was  natural  that  what  we  now  call  the 
tenor  voice  should  lead  the  singing-.  At  first 
voices  were  divided  only  into  low  and  high 
— bassus,  bass,  and  medius,  tenor — but  even 
when  a  third  and  higher  part,*  the  alto,f  was 
added,  the  tenor  still  carried  the  principal 
melody.  But  with  the  Reformation  appeared 
a  great  number  of  hymns  intended  for  the 
general  congregation.  These  were  adapted 
to  the  favorite  melodies  of  the  day,  both  sa- 
cred and  secular,  and  in  order  that  all  might 
sing — men,  women,  and  children — the  melo- 
dy was  placed  in  the  upper  voice  and  the 
construction  of  the  tunes  made  more  regu- 
lar. 

And  so,  upon  the  volkslied  was  founded 
the  chorale,  which  has  had  the  greatest 
influence  upon  the  development  of  Ger- 
man music.  It  was  adopted  by  compos- 
ers, as  the  plain-song  melodies  had  been  in 
Italy,  and  developed   to  the  utmost  by  the 

*  Called  triplum — from  which  comes  the  word  treble. 

t  From  altus,  high ;  originally  the  male  voice  of  the  highest 
pitch — the  counter  tenor,  or  falsetto.  The  word  soprano  comes 
from  the  Italian  sovrano — sovereign  or  chief. 


ii8  Music 

genius  of  John  Sebastian  Bach  (1685-1750). 
Bach's  greatest  compositions  in  the  line  of 
oratorio  are  his  settings  of  the  '  Passion  of 
our  Lord.'  The  history  of  the  passion  has 
always  formed  part  of  the  service  for  holy 
week,  and  very  early  the  custom  was  intro- 
duced of  reciting  the  words  to  a  kind  of 
chant.  But  besides  being  a  part  of  the  church 
service  the  story  of  the  passion  was  a  peren- 
nial theme  for  the  miracle  plays  and  myste- 
ries of  the  Middle  Ages.  These  were  always 
associated  with  music,  and  from  these  primi- 
tive works  may  be  traced  the  development 
which  culminated  in  Bach's  magnificent  '  Pas- 
sion according  to  St.  Matthew.'  In  this,  the 
words  of  the  Gospel  narrative  are  combined 
with  dramatic  choruses  and  beautiful  cho- 
rales, sung,  not  by  the  choir  alone,  but  by  the 
choir  in  harmony  and  by  the  whole  congre- 
gation in  unison —  just  as  they  are  sung  to- 
day in  the  German  Protestant  churches. 

But  Germany  was  not  the  country  destined 
to  witness  the  most  splendid  development  of 
sacred  music.  In  the  great  English  oratorios 
which  have  immortalized  his  name  and  fixed 
themselves  in  the  affections  of  his  adopted 
countrymen  with  a  hold  that  is  scarcely  re- 
laxed even  at  the  present  day,  Handel  (1685- 


The  Oratorio  119 


1759)  developed  this  form  of  art  to  the  high- 
est pitch  of  perfection,  and  proved  himself 
the  greatest  of  choral  composers. 

When,  before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  oratorio  began  to  separate  itself  from 
opera  by  the  elimination  of  scenery,  costume 
and  acting,  the  choral  element,  which  would 
have  been  a  hindrance  to  dramatic  action,  was 
lifted  into  prominence.  The  Italian  com- 
posers, who  concentrated  their  efforts  upon 
dramatic  recitative,  deeming  contrapuntal 
skill  unnecessary,  did  comparatively  little  for 
its  development;  but  the  Germans,  who  al- 
ways respected  the  art  of  counterpoint,  turned 
all  its  ingenious  devices  to  account  in  the 
service  of  oratorio — the  choruses  of  Bach's 
'  Matthew  Passion'  and  of  Handel's  '  Messiah ' 
and  '  Israel  in  Egypt '  being  the  finest  in  the 
world. 

The  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury witnessed  the  production  of  two  de- 
lightful oratorios,  composed  by  a  man  who 
had  so  nearly  reached  the  allotted  term  of 
human  life  that  we  can  never  cease  to  won- 
der at  the  youthful  freshness  and  springlike 
beauty  with  which  they  are  pervaded.  These 
were  the  '  Creation'  and  '  Seasons'  of  Joseph 
Haydn  (1 732-1 809). 


no  Music 

Haydn's  choruses  cannot,  of  course,  be 
compared  with  those  of  the  great  genius  who 
has  been  called  the  "  High  Priest  of  the  Sub- 
lime," but  the  fluent  grace  of  his  melodies 
and  the  charm  of  his  instrumental  accompani- 
ments were  in  his  own  day  quite  unsur- 
passed. 

Beethoven's  single  oratorio,  like  his  single 
opera,  stands  apart,  and  exercised  no  influ- 
ence upon  the  development  of  this  form  of 
art. 

The  composer  of  the  nineteenth  century 
who  has  embodied  in  the  most  glorious  forms 
the  noblest  ideal  of  the  true  oratorio  is  Felix 
Mendelssohn  (1809-47).  '  St.  Paul '  and  '  Eli- 
jah '  rank  second  only  to  the  works  of  the 
giants,  Bach  and  Handel. 


VIII 

Instrumental  Music 


VOCAL  music  was  already  highly  devel- 
oped before  instrumental  music  came 
into  existence.  Mediaeval  art  was  always  the 
child  of  the  Church,  and  vocal  music  had 
been  fostered  with  especial  care.  In  the  pa- 
pal chapel — the  typical  choir  of  the  Roman 
church — no  instrument  was  ever  used,  not 
even  the  organ,  and  the  rich  treasure  of  mu- 
sical compositions  preserved  in  its  archives 
consists  exclusively  of  vocal  works.  In  the 
Netherlands  the  voices  were  sometimes  ac- 
companied by  instruments,  but  for  these  no 
separate  parts  were  written  ;  they  played  just 
what  the  voices  sang.  In  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury independent  instrumental  music  had 
hardly  made  a  beginning,  though  we  occa- 
sionally meet  with  mention  of  some  clever  or- 
ganist or  lute  player  who  was  famed  for  his 


122  Music 

improvisations.  In  mediaeval  times  ordinary 
instrumentalists,  pipers,  fiddlers,  etc.,  were 
ranked  as  vagabonds  and  outlaws.  As  late  as 
the  eighteenth  century  in  Germany,  where 
music,  aside  from  the  church  service,  was  con- 
sidered chiefly  as  an  aristocratic  addition  to 
the  domestic  establishments  of  noblemen  and 
great  ecclesiastics,  musicians  not  connected 
with  some  such  establishment  were  regarded 
as  little  better  than  tramps  and  vagrants  ;  and 
even  great  composers  like  Haydn  and  Mo- 
zart were  reckoned  in  the  list  of  domestics 
with  cooks  and  footmen.  In  Italy  music  was 
from  the  first  held  in  much  higher  esteem. 
The  musician  was  regarded  as  ennobled  by 
his  art,  and  the  nobleman  did  not  think  it  in- 
compatible with  his  position  to  practise  it 
himself  as  an  amateur,  though  the  lute  was 
considered  to  be  the  only  instrument  fit  for 
a  gentleman. 

Until  the  sixteenth  century  instruments 
were  not  sufficiently  perfected  to  make  a 
real  art  of  playing  possible.  The  clumsy 
key-boards  of  the  early  organs  and  the  great 
exertion  required  to  produce  the  sound,  pre- 
cluded the  possibility  of  performing  upon 
these  instruments  mure  than  the  plain-song 
melody    with    single    accompanying    tones; 


Instrumental  Music 


123 


and  even  this  often  required  two  players. 
Clavichord  and  harpsichord  were  invented 
but  not  perfected.  The  favorite  instrument 
among  cultivated 
amateurs  was  the 
lute,  whose  clear, 
silvery  tones  were 
much  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  the  feeble 
sounds  of  the  as  yet 
imperfect  clavier.* 
The  lute,  however, 
had  one  very  great 
defect — the  difficul- 
ty of  keeping  it  in 
tune.  Matheson 
says  that  if  a  lute 
player  lived  eighty 

years  he  had  certainly  spent  sixty  of  them 
in  tuning  his  instrument. 

Among  bowed  instruments  the  viol  held 
the  chief  place.  The  stringed  instruments 
of  ancient  times  were  always  played  by  being 
plucked  with  the  fingers,  or  with  a  plectrum, 
but  in  manuscripts  and  architectural  sculpt- 
ures of  the  twelfth  century,  and  even  earlier, 

*  Clavier  was  the  general  name  for  all  stringed  instruments 
played  by  means  of  a  key-board. 


124 


Music 


we  find  representations  of  such  instruments 
played  with  a  bow  ;  indicating  that  the  bow 
was  by  that  time  in  common  use  throughout 
Europe.    By  reason  of  the  deep  curves  in  its 

3Diffc4ttht*i 


Instrumental  Music  125 

sides,  which  permitted  a  freer  use  of  the  bow, 
the  viol  was  a  distinct  improvement  upon  any 
of  its  predecessors  and  the  direct  precursor 
of  the  violin.  Viols  were  at  first  used,  as  the 
older  instruments  had  been,  merely  to  sup- 
port the  voice,  and  were  made  in  different 
sizes  corresponding  to  the  different  voices. 

A  chest  of  viols — that  is,  a  set  of  five  or  six 
of  graduated  size  and  compass — was  in  the 
sixteenth  century  a  regular  part  of  the  fur- 
nishing of  a  well-appointed  house,  just  as  a 
piano  is  at  the  present  time.  As  the  madri- 
gals of  the  sixteenth  century  were  often  ex- 
tremely elaborate  and  consequently  difficult 
to  sing,  the  parts  were  frequently  accompan- 
ied by  viols ;  and  sometimes,  if  there  were  not 
voices  enough,  a  voice  part  was  represented 
by  a  viol  having  the  same  compass.  From 
this  it  was  but  a  step  to  playing  all  the  parts 
with  viols,  without  the  voices,  and  then  to 
composing  music  professedly  intended  to  be 
either  sung  or  played.*  Sir  John  Hawkins 
writes  that  "  when  the  practice  of  singing 
madrigals  began  to  decline,  and  gentlemen 


*  '  Buone  da  cantare  e  suonare  '  (good  to  sing  and  play) — 
'Apt  for  voices  or  viols' — 'Convenient  for  voices  or  for  all 
kinds  of  instruments  ' — are  frequently  found  on  the  title-pages 
of  early  compositions. 


126  Music 

and  others  began  to  excel  in  their  perform- 
ances on  the  viol,  the  musicians  of  the  time 
conceived  the  thought  of  substituting  instru- 
mental music  in  the  place  of  vocal ;  and  for 
this  purpose  some  of  the  most  excellent  mas- 
ters of  that  instrument  betook  themselves  to 
the  framing  of  compositions  called  fantazias, 
which  were  generally  in  six  parts,  answer- 
ing to  the  number  of  viols  in  a  chest,  and 
abounded  in  fugues,  little  responsive  pas- 
sages, and  all  those  other  elegancies  observa- 
ble in  the  structure  and  contrivance  of  the 
madrigal." 

Early  instrumental  music  is  always  vocal 
in  character — that  is,  it  is  music  which  could 
just  as  well  be  sung  as  played.  But  as  in- 
struments of  increased  compass  and  capacity 
were  invented,  or  perfected,  instrumental 
music  began  to  be  separated  from  vocal  and 
to  develop  a  style  and  character  of  its  own. 
With  the  establishment  of  the  monodic  style, 
when  the  foundation  melody,  instead  of 
being  surrounded  by  contrapuntal  parts  of 
equal  importance,  was  simply  supported  by 
an  accompaniment  of  subordinate  harmonies, 
the  element  of  form,  which  is  of  such  great 
importance  in  modern  music,  begins  to  ap- 
pear in  instrumental  compositions. 


Instrumental  Music  127 

In  modern  terminology  the  form  of  a  mu- 
sical work  is  the  arrangement  of  distinct  sec- 
tions of  melody,  with  such  reference  to  har- 
monic relationships  that  the  whole  impresses 
the  mind  as  a  complete  and  logical  work  of 
art.  In  vocal  compositions  the  form  of  the 
music  depends  upon  the  words,  but  in  the 
construction  of  purely  instrumental  works 
some  principle  of  arrangement  and  develop- 
ment must  be  followed. 

The  association  of  song  and  dance  early 
developed  definite  rhythms  and  distinct  melo- 
dic periods — what  are  commonly  called  tunes 
— in  popular  music,  but  it  was  long  before 
these  were  used  by  educated  musicians  ex- 
cept as  canti  fermi  on  which  to  found  their 
counterpoint.  The  great  vocal  works  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  although 
they  are  founded  upon  distinct  melodies,  are 
conspicuously  deficient  in  definite  rhythms 
and  phrases  ;  for  the  tune  is  so  obscured  by 
the  accompanying  counterpoint  that  its  char- 
acter and  rhythm  are  utterly  lost.  Form  in 
its  modern  sense  depends  upon  defined  tonal- 
ity, and  this  element,  also,  is  conspicuously 
absent  from  the  great  polyphonic  works  of 
the  early  composers.  There  could  be  no  de- 
velopment in  that  direction  until  the  modern 


128  Music 

scales  were  accepted  and  modern  principles 
of  harmony  fixed;  and  it  was  not  until  the 
ecclesiastical  modes  were  finally  superseded 
by  the  major  and  minor  scales,  and  the  re- 
lation between  chords  and  distinct  keys  defi- 
nitely established,  that  formal  melodies  began 
to  be  accepted  by  composers  as  an  important 
element  of  high-class  music. 

The  subject  of  a  musical  composition  is 
like  the  text  of  a  sermon — it  is  the  theme 
upon  which  the  composer  discourses — and, 
like  a  text,  it  may  consist  of  a  long  musical 
sentence,  or  a  short  one,  or  even  a  simple 
phrase;  and  as  a  sermon  may  have  several 
texts,  so  a  musical  composition  may  be  devel- 
oped from  several  subjects.  A  complete  mu- 
sical sentence  is  called  a  period.  As  rhythms 
in  music  correspond  to  rhythms  in  poetry, 
so  musical  periods  correspond  to  poetical ; 
and  as  the  most  common  form  of  verse  is  the 
little  four-lined  stanza,  so  the  musical  period 
most  frequently  met  with  is  that  consisting 
of  four  phrases  which  correspond,  or  rhyme, 
by  twos.  But  musical  periods,  like  poetical 
stanzas,  may  consist  of  six,  or  eight,  or  more 
phrases ;  or  even  an  irregular  number,  like 
five  or  seven.     As  in  poetry,  so  in  music,  a 


Instrumental  Music 


129 


great  variety  of  both  rhythms  and  periods  is 
found. 

A  period  may  be  divided  into  sections  of 
(usually)  two  phrases  each ;  generally  two, 
the  first  commonly  ending  with  a  half-close 
— that  is,  a  pause  on  the  dominant  harmony, 
while  the  full  close  is,  of  course,  on  the  tonic 
chord.*     The  close  and  the  half-close  corre- 


=3^ 


H , . 1 1 1 , 


^m 


1 


Halt-close.  Full  close. 

spond  to  punctuation  marks — the  full  close 
corresponding  to  full  stop,  or  period,  and  the 
half-close  to  comma  or  semicolon.  These  ca- 
dences, the  close  and  the  half-close,  which  are 
a  very  important  factor  in  the  definition  of 
form,  are  also  one  of  its  earliest  indications  in 
popular  music. 


<=  0- 


s££Q£5^=ai^ 


'I 


*  The  tonic  is  the  first  note  of  a  scale,  the  key-note ;    the 
dominant  is  the  fifth  of  the  same  scale  or  key. 


130 


Music 


A  motive  is  the  shortest  possible  complete 
musical  idea — -it  may  consist  of  only  two  or 
three  notes — and  motives  may  be  modified  in 
many  ways  and  yet  be  recognizable  by  the 
rhythm  and  relative  positions  of  the  notes.* 


ipgipgppsJ5gi|i5EgiP|ipgl 


Melodies  are  constructed  from  repetitions 
of  motives  arranged  in  phrases,  sections  and 
periods. 


Period. 


Section. 

Section 

Phrase.         |  j      Phrase.       j 

Phrase.         j     Phrase. 

Before  the  development  of  forms  founded 
upon  distinct  melodic  periods,  instrumental 
music  was  largely  constructed  from  motives 
arranged  in  sequences.     A  sequence  is   the 

*  It  has  been  estimated  that  a  motive  may  appear  in  no  less 
than  eighty-seven  transformations. 


Instrumental  Music  131 


repetition  of   a   definite  group    of  notes    (or 
chords)  on  different  degrees  of  the  scale. 


3=^&=\ 


F  ill/  [Ljj'  rrrrTTTr 


:S^=f^fcsd 


-  <S>— S ^ — ;»3 — <S — 


When  instrumental  music  began  to  have 
an  independent  existence  polyphony  reigned, 
and  the  ideal  type  of  form  was  the  fugue.  It 
has  been  already  said  that  polyphonic  music 
is  constructed  by  interweaving  melodies,  each 
of  which  is  independent  and  complete  in  it- 
self, and  all  of  which  are  equally  important. 
In  homophonic,  monodic  music,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  composition  is  dominated  by  a 
single  melody  to  which  everything  else  is 
subordinated.  Any  modern  song  is  a  homo- 
phonic  composition.  The  accompaniment 
may  be  varied  in  many  ways — the  harmonies 
changed,  the  figures  altered — without  speci- 
ally affecting  the  vocal  melody  which  consti- 
tutes the  song;  but  in  a  polyphonic  work 
the  slightest  change  in  any  single  part  influ- 
ences the  whole  composition. 

A  fugue  is  a  polyphonic  composition  in 
which  a  subject — that  is,  one  short  theme  or 


132  Music 

phrase — announced  by  one  voice  or  part  is 
repeated,  or  answered,  by  all  the  others  in 
succession  ;  not  strictly,  as  in  a  canon,  but 
with  various  modifications  and  interruptions. 
These  repetitions,  or  answers,  are  called  imi- 
tations, and  these  imitations  may  vary  con- 
siderably from  the  original  phrase  while  yet 
retaining  its  general  form.  In  a  canon  the 
imitations  may  be  at  any  indicated  interval, 
but  in  a  fugue  they  are  chiefly  between  the 
tonic  (the  first  note  of  the  scale)  and  the  dom- 
inant (the  fifth  of  the  same  scale,  or  key). 
Indeed,  the  main  distinction  between  a  fugue 
and  other  kinds  of  polyphonic  writing  is  that 
the  former  seems  to  be  based  upon  the  rela- 
tions of  tonic  and  dominant.  The  name  fugue 
is  from  the  Latin  fugare — to  put  to  flight — 
the  parts  appearing  to  chase  the  subject 
throughout  the  piece.  First  one  voice  part 
enters  alone  with  the  subject  in  the  key  of 
the  tonic ;  then  a  second  voice  enters  with 
the  answer,  which  is  the  subject  transposed 
from  tonic  to  dominant,  and  sometimes 
slightly  modified  to  avoid  modulating  out  of 
the  key ;  and  the  other  voices  follow,  alter- 
nately tonic  and  dominant,  until  all  have  en- 
tered. This  is  called  the  exposition  of  the 
fugue. 


Instrumental  Music  133 

After  the  exposition  the  composer  proceeds 
to  develop  all  the  musical  possibilities  of  the 
subject  in  what  are  termed  episodes.  He 
may  present  the  succession  of  notes  which 
forms  the  subject,  inverted,  or  backward, 
augmented  —  that  is,  in  longer  notes  than 
those  in  the  original  phrase — or  diminished 
— that  is,  in  shorter  notes — and  with  imita- 
tions of  every  kind,  using  any  of  the  manifold 
devices  of  the  art  of  counterpoint.  At  in- 
tervals throughout  the  piece  the  subject  is 
reintroduced  and  followed  by  the  answer, 
which  sometimes  overlaps  or  interrupts. 
Such  an  interruption  is  called  a '  stretto.'  Tow- 
ard the  close  there  is  often  a  pedal  or  organ 
point — that  is,  a  long  note  sustained  by  one 
voice  while  the  others  proceed  in  harmonies 
of  which  this  note  does  not  always  form  a 
part.  The  only  notes  that  can  be  thus  held 
are  the  tonic  and  the  dominant,  and  they  are 
sometimes  held  together,  which  is  called  a 
double  pedal. 

The  following  is  the  plan  of  a  fugue  in  D 
major  from  Bach's  '  Well-tempered  Clavi- 
chord.' (Czerny — Peters  edition — No.  5. — 
Tausig,  No.  3.) 

The  horizontal  lines  are  not  a  staff — al- 
though   the    perpendicular    lines    represent 


!34 


Music 


bars — but  indicate  the  four  parts  or  voices, 
soprano,  alto,  tenor  and  bass,  with  which  the 
fugue  is  woven.  The  red  mark  denotes  the 
subject    and    the    blue   the   answer,   and   by 


SOPRANO. 



----- 







ALTO. 

TENOR 

a 



BASS.      _=__-. 

m 


PLAN    OF    FUGUE. 


means  of  these  the  construction  of  the  fugue, 
exposition,  episodes  and  strettos,  may  easily 
be  followed. 


The  historian  Ambros  says  that  modern 
music  is  as  much  indebted  to  the  dance-tunes 
which  were  played  by  the  despised  mediae- 
val town-piper  as  to  all  the  contrapuntal  in- 
genuities of  the  Netherlanders.  It  is  from 
the  dance -tune  that  modern  musical  forms 


Instrumental  Music  135 

have  been  developed.  The  earliest  instru- 
mental music  of  a  definite  character  consisted 
of  arrangements  of  short  dances,  and  these 
became  in  the  seventeenth  century  univer- 
sally popular.  Wandering  minstrels  carried 
the  national  characteristic  types  from  land  to 
land,  and  they  were  accepted  everywhere — 
not  merely  as  accompaniments  for  dancing, 
but  also  by  the  best  composers  as  a  basis  for 
artistic  instrumental  compositions.  In  these 
the  advantage  of  contrasting  one  dance-tune 
with  another  was  soon  perceived,  and  by  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
'  allemande,'  '  courante,'  'sarabande'  and 
'gigue'  had  been  grouped  into  the  art-form 
known  as  the  partita,  or  suite.  This  was  the 
first  instrumental  form  in  which  several 
movements  were  combined  into  a  complete 
whole,  and  was  the  direct  precursor  of  the 
sonata,  from  which,  in  early  examples,  it  is 
often  distinguished  only  in  name. 

These  four  dances  were  usually  preceded 
by  a  prelude,  and  between  the  sarabande  and 
the  gigue  other  dances  were  frequently  intro- 
duced, the  most  familiar  of  which  are  the 
1  gavotte,'  '  bourree,' '  minuet,' '  chaconne  '  and 
'  passecaille.'  The  allemande,  which  is  in 
common  time,  is  a  quiet,  moderate  movement. 


136  Music 

The  courante,  which  follows  and  contrasts 
with  it,  is  in  three-quarter  time,  of  light  and 
quick  movement  and  full  of  running  pas- 
sages.* The  sarabande  is  in  slow  triple  time, 
with  a  strong  emphasis  on  the  second  beat  of 
the  measure  ;  and  the  gigue  which  concludes 
the  series  is  a  lively  movement  having  usu- 
ally six,  nine,  or  twelve  beats  to  the  meas- 
ure, or,  if  in  quadruple  time,  so  many  triplets 
that  the  character  of  the  rhythm  is  main- 
tained. 

Of  the  dances  which  are  occasionally  found 
in  the  suite,  the  gavotte  is  in  common  time, 
beginning  on  the  latter  half  of  the  measure. 
The  bourree  closely  resembles  the  gavotte, 
but  begins  on  the  last  quarter  instead  of  the 
last  half  of  the  measure.  The  minuet,  which 
is  in  triple  time,  is  usually  followed  by  a  sec- 
ond minuet  called  in  early  examples  alterna- 
tive, because  it  precedes  the  repetition  of  the 
first,  and  afterward  trio — probably  because 
this  second  minuet  was  written  in  three-part 
counterpoint.f 


*  This  is  the  Italian  courante.  The  French  courante,  which 
sometimes  takes  its  place,  is  in  \  time  and  less  fluent. 

t  The  part  corresponding  to  this  alternativo  is  still,  even  in 
modern  dances  and  marches,  called  trio,  although  the  name  has 
no  longer  any  significance  in  respect  to  the  form. 


Instrumental  Music  137 

The  chaconne  and  passecaille  are  both  in 
triple  time.  The  chaconne  is  a  set  of  varia- 
tions on  a  ground  bass — that  is,  a  short  phrase 
which  is  constantly  repeated  in  the  bass — and 
the  passecaille  differs  from  it  chiefly  in  that 
the  constantly  recurring-  phrase  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  bass,  but  appears  sometimes  in 
the  other  parts. 

In  the  suite  all  the  movements  are  in  the 
same  key,  and  each  is  based  upon  a  persistent 
dance  rhythm.  The  sonata  differs  from  the 
suite  in  having  the  various  movements  in  dif- 
ferent, though  related,  keys,  in  the  idealiza- 
tion of  the  dance  rhythms,  and  also  in  having 
the  first  movement  in  what  is  known  as  first 
movement,  or  sonata,  form.  The  first  move- 
ments of  symphonies,  concertos,  string  quar- 
tets, trios,  etc.,  are,  with  few  exceptions,  writ- 
ten in  this  form  —  whence  the  name,  first 
movement  form.  When  the  composition  is 
for  either  one  or  two  instruments  it  is  called 
a  sonata,  but  a  work  in  the  same  form  for 
more  than  two  instruments  is  usually  named 
according  to  their  number — trio,  quartet, 
quintet,  sextet,  septet,  octet,  etc. — and  when 
the  composition  is  for  an  orchestra  it  is 
termed  a  symphony ;  a  symphony,  therefore, 
being  really  a  sonata  for  orchestra. 


'3§ 


Music 


Plan  of  a  First  Movement  in  the  Sonata  Form. 

I      I.   First  subject,  in  the  key 

T    t-      ~r..~„ .,  of  the  movement. 

I.    EXPOSITION -j     IL    Second    subjectj    in    the 

key  of  the  dominant. 

II.  Development -{  III.  Working  out. 

IV.  First  subject,  in  the  key 
of  the  movement. 
V.  Second  subject,  trans- 
posed from  the  domi- 
nant into  the  key  of  the 
movement. 


III.  Recapitulation 


A  sonata  first  movement  consists  of  three 
parts :  first,  the  exposition,  in  which  the 
themes  or  subjects  are  presented;*  second, 
the  development  of  these  themes  by  all  the 
musical  devices  at  the  command  of  the  com- 
poser ;  f  third,  the  recapitulation  of  the  sub- 
jects announced  in  the  first  part,  the  second 
subject  being  transposed  into  the  key  of  the 
movement.  A  first  movement  has  five  divis- 
ions :  I.  The  first  subject,  in  the  key  of  the 
movement;    II.  The  second   subject,  in   the 

*  This  is  always  followed  by  the  double  bar  with  repeat  dots. 

f  This  section  is  called  the  working  out  because  the  com- 
position is  carried  on  by  working  over  and  developing  the  mu- 
sical possibilities  of  the  figures  and  phrases  of  the  principal 
subjects.  It  is  called  also  the  fantasia,  or  free  part,  because 
here  the  modulation  is  entirely  unrestricted. 


Instrumental  Music  139 


key  of  the  dominant;  III.  The  working  out, 
fantasia,  or  free  part  ;  IV.  The  return  of  the 
first  subject  in  the  key  of  the  movement,  as  at 
first ;  V.  The  return  of  the  second  subject  in 
the  key  of  the  movement,  instead  of  in  the 
dominant  as  before.  A  first  movement  in  a 
minor  key  usually  has  the  second  subject  in 
the  relative  major — that  is,  the  major  key 
with  the  same  signature  and  having  its  tonic, 
or  key-note,  a  minor  third  *  higher.  At  its 
return  the  second  subject  may  appear  either 
in  the  key  of  the  movement,  when  its  inter- 
vals must  be  altered  so  as  to  change  it  from 
major  to  minor,  or  in  the  major  key  of  the 
tonic;  in  which  case  it  is  simply  transposed, 
no  alteration  being  needed.  In  any  but  the 
very  simplest  examples  of  the  sonata  form, 
such  as  are  usually  termed  sonatinas,  this  out- 
line, or  framework,  is  very  much  amplified. 
There  are  always  in  both  the  first  and  last 
sections  (exposition  and  recapitulation)  con- 
necting passages  between  the  first  and  second 
subjects — that  in  the  first  section  effecting 
the  modulation  from  tonic  to  dominant,  or 
relative  major,  which  in  the  recapitulation  is 
not  required — and  the  second  division,  as 
well  as  the  entire  movement,  generally  ends 

*  Three  semitones,  or  half-steps. 


H° 


Music 


with  a  coda  ;  which  is  a  passage  added  on  to 
emphasize  the  close.  (Compare  the  sonata 
in  D  major  by  Haydn — Peters  edition,  No. 
7. — Cotta,  No.  4.) 

Plan  of  First  Movement. 


Division 

I. 

Measures    1-8. 

First  subject,  in  D  major. 

"          9-16. 

Connecting  passage. 

Division 

II. 

17-35- 

Second  subject,  in  A  (the 
dominant  key). 

35-4o. 

Coda,  in  A  :|| 

Division 

III. 

"       41-60. 

Working  out. 

Division 

IV. 

61-74. 

Return  of  first  subject 
(extended). 

"        74-79- 

Connecting  passage. 

Division 

V. 

80-98. 

Return  of  second  sub- 
ject, in  D. 

"        98-103 

Coda,  in  D. 

Compare  also  the  sonata  by  Beethoven  in 
F  minor,  Op.  2,  No.  1. 


Plan  of  First  Movement. 

Division      I.   Measures       1-8.      First     subject,    in     I 

minor. 
"  8-20.    Connecting  passage. 

Division    II.  "  20-41.    Second  subject,    in    / 

flat  (relative  major). 
"  41-48.    Coda,  in  A  flat.  :|| 

Division  III.  "  48-100.  Working  out. 


Instrumental  Music  141 

Division  IV.   Measures   101-108.  Return  of  first  subject. 

"  108-119.  Connecting  passage. 

Division    V.  "  1 19-140.  Return  of  second  sub- 

ject, in  F  minor. 

"  140-152.  Coda,  in  F  minor. 

The  slow  movement  of  a  sonata  is  usually 
in  what  is  termed  '  song  form  ; '  consisting  of 
a  first  part,  second  and  contrasting  part,  repe- 
tition of  the  first  part  and  coda.  This  is  called 
aiso  primary  form,  in  contradistinction  to  first 
movement  or  sonata  form,  which  is  called 
binary.  The  slow  movement  of  a  sonata  is, 
however,  sometimes  in  first  movement  form, 
and  occasionally  it  consists  of  a  theme  and 
variations.  In  early  examples  it  is  almost 
always  in  the  key  of  the  sub-dominant — the 
fifth  below  the  tonic. 

The  minuet,  which  was  introduced  into  the 
symphony  by  Haydn,  is  in  the  form  of  the 
old-fashioned  dance — in  triple  time,  with  a 
trio  followed  by  the  repetition  of  the  first 
part.  But,  though  retaining  the  form,  in  char- 
acter the  symphonic  minuet  differs  greatly 
from  the  dignified  movement  in  which  it 
originated.  It  becomes  constantly  lighter  and 
quicker,  and  is  finally  transformed  into  the 
scherzo  by  Beethoven,  who  gave  the  move- 
ment a  permanent  position  in  the  symphony. 


142  Music 

The  last  movement  of  a  sonata  is  invariably 
in  the  key  of  the  first  movement,  though  one 
may  be  in  the  minor  and  the  other  in  the 
major  mode,  and  it  is  usually  in  rondo  form. 
A  rondo  has  one  principal  subject  which  re- 
curs several  times,  the  intervening  passages 
being  termed  episodes.* 

A  first  movement  differs  from  a  rondo  in 
having  two  principal  subjects  and  a  working 
out. 

The  name  sonata,  which  means  '  sound- 
piece,'  at  first  merely  distinguished  the  piece 
that  was  played  from  cantata,  the  piece  that 
was  sung.  The  words  '  sonata,'  '  canzona ' 
and  '  sinfonia  '  were  originally  applied  to  in- 
strumental compositions  of  all  kinds,  without 
designating  any  particular  form.  Praetorius 
says  (about  1620);  "'Sonata  a  sonando'  is  so 
named  because  it  is  to  be  performed  not  with 
men's  voices  but  with  instruments  alone,  af- 
ter the  manner  of  a  canzona.  In  my  opinion 
the  difference  between  them  is  this  :  a  sonata 
is  a  dignified  and  stately  composition  in  the 
style  of  a  mottet,  while  a  canzona  is  com- 
posed   with  many   black   notes,  is   gay   and 


*  It  is  called  a  rondo  because  it  comes  round  to  the  subject 
after  each  episode. 


Instrumental  Music  143 

joyous  and  of  quick  movement  through- 
out." 

The  violin  was  the  first  instrument  to  at- 
tain perfection,  the  violins  of  almost  three 
centuries  ago  being  still  regarded  as  unsur- 
passable models,  and  with  the  perfecting  of 
the  instrument  was  developed  the  great 
school  of  Italian  violin  playing.  In  Italy  in 
the  seventeenth  century  composers  were  al- 
most invariably  violinists,  just  as  at  present 
they  are  usually  pianists,  and  sonata  was  a 
generally  accepted  term  for  violin  composi- 
tions. Violin  sonatas  were  divided  into  two 
classes  :  the  '  sonata  da  chiesa,'  which  was 
really  intended  for  performance  in  the  church 
service,  and  the  '  sonata  da  camera,'  or  secular 
sonata.  This  latter  was  often  nothing  but  a 
suite  of  dances,  and  even  the  more  stately  and 
dignified  sonata  da  chiesa  bore  no  resem- 
blance to  the  modern  sonata  beyond  the  al- 
ternation of  quick  and  slow  movements. 

But  when  all  Italy  was  so  fascinated  by  the 
monodic  style  that  her  composers,  trusting 
entirely  to  their  natural  talents,  neglected 
the  study  of  composition,  the  true  culture  of 
the  real  art  of  music  was  transferred  from  the 
south  to  the  north,  and  it  was  in  Germany 
that  the  sonata  was  developed  into  the  form 


144  Music 

which  is  now  known  by  that  name.  A  fa- 
mous old  German  organist,  Johann  Kuhnau 
(1667-1722),  the  predecessor  of  Bach  at  the 
Thomas  school  at  Leipsic,  is  generally  re- 
garded as  the  originator  of  the  clavier  sona- 
ta ;  that  is,  a  composition  in  several  move- 
ments, not  dance-tunes.  The  great  favor 
with  which  Kuhnau's  sonatas  were  received 
encouraged  the  production  of  similar  works, 
and  in  these  compositions — in  which  the  num- 
ber of  movements  varies  from  three  to  eight 
or  more — the  old  strictly  contrapuntal  style 
gradually  disappeared,  and  was  replaced  by 
definite  melodies  accompanied  by  harmonic 
figures  or  chords.  Matheson,  in  his  '  Com- 
plete Chapelmaster'  (published  in  1739), says: 
"  During  the  past  few  years  musicians  have 
composed  clavier  sonatas  with  good  success; 
however,  they  have  not  as  yet  the  right  form, 
and  they  aim  rather  to  move  the  fingers  than 
to  touch  the  heart.  In  the  various  move- 
ments of  a  sonata  there  must  be  a  certain 
complaisance  which  suits  itself  to  every 
hearer.  The  mourner  must  find  something 
mournful  and  sympathetic,  the  joyful  hearer 
something  joyful,  the  impetuous  person  some- 
thing vehement  and  exciting.  Such  must  be 
the  aim  of  the  composer  in  writing  his  adagio, 


Instrumental  Music  145 


andante,  presto,  etc.,  and  so  will  his  work 
succeed."  From  which  it  appears  that  in 
Matheson's  opinion  a  sonata  in  addition  to  a 
regular  form  should  have  also  a  definite  sig- 
nification and  character. 

In  early  sonatas  the  most  common  form  of 
first  movement  is  one  that  is  found  also  in 
many  of  the  old  dances  in  the  suites  or  par- 
titas. The  first  half  of  the  piece  begins  with 
a  definite  subject  in  the  tonic,  modulates  over 
into  the  dominant  and  closes  in  that  key  ;  and 
the  second  half  begins  in  the  dominant — fre- 
quently with  the  inversion  of  the  subject — 
and  modulates  back  into  the  tonic.  The  mod- 
ern binary  form,  having  two  distinct  and  con- 
trasting themes  or  subjects  in  definitely  re- 
lated tonalities,  is  dimly  foreshadowed  here 
and  there  in  the  works  of  older  composers, 
but  was  not  clearly  defined  until  the  time  of 
Haydn  (1732-1809)  and  Mozart  (1756-91). 

In  the  development  of  the  sonata  the  most 
important  predecessor  of  Haydn  was  Carl 
Philipp  Emanuel  Bach  (1713-88),  son  of  the 
great  John  Sebastian.  He  definitely  estab- 
lished the  sonata  as  a  composition  consisting 
of  three  movements :  the  first,  an  allegro  in 
the  sonata  form  as  it  was  known  in  his  da)- ; 
the  second,  an  andante  or  adagio  of  contrast- 


146  Music 

ing  character  ;  and  the  third,  a  lively  rondo. 
It  was  by  diligent  study  of  the  works  of 
Emanuel  Bach  that  Haydn  developed  the 
form  which  has  served  as  a  model  for  all  suc- 
ceeding composers.  Haydn  said  :  "  For  all 
that  I  know  I  am  indebted  to  Carl  Philipp 
Emanuel  Bach."  And  Mozart  said  :  "  He  is 
the  father,  we  are  the  children ;  whoever 
among  us  can  do  anything  has  learned  it  from 
him." 

In  the  works  of  Haydn  and  Mozart  the  so- 
nata form  is  fully  developed  and  definitely 
fixed.  With  both  these  composers  form  pre- 
dominates, as  was  indeed  not  unnatural  while 
the  form  was  yet  a  novelty.  At  first  it  was 
indispensable  that  the  periods  and  sections 
should  be  clearly  and  precisely  defined  ;  and 
if  the  themes  were  beautiful  it  was  sufficient 
to  connect  them  by  brilliant  passages,  no 
matter  how  meaningless.  It  remained  for 
Beethoven  (1770- 1827)  to  show  how  the  ex- 
ternal structure  might  be  dominated  by  the 
musical  sentiment.  Beethoven  composed  al- 
most exclusively  in  the  sonata  form,  and  ex- 
panded its  limits  in  all  directions.  He  exer- 
cised much  greater  freedom  in  the  choice  of 
keys  than  any  of  his  predecessors — not  only 
for  the  different  movements,  but  also  for  the 


Instrumental  Music  147 

subjects  of  his  first  movements.  He  devel- 
oped the  coda,  which  with  Haydn  and  Mo- 
zart is  rarely  more  than  a  brilliant  flourish, 
into  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  important 
parts  of  the  movement,  and  made  the  con- 
necting- passages  an  integral  part  of  the 
whole  ;  so  that  a  work  of  Beethoven  is  like 
an  organic  growth — each  phrase  or  passage 
leading  naturally  and  irresistibly  to  that 
which  follows,  and  all  combining:  to  form  a 
complete  and  living  whole.  With  Beethoven 
the  sonata  form  reached  its  highest  develop- 
ment. Though  it  has  been  successfully  used 
by  later  composers,  none  has  done  any- 
thing to  make  it  a  more  perfect  vehicle  for 
the  expression  of  musical  thought. 


IX 

Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte 


THE  principal  instruments  having  strings 
and  played  by  means  of  a  key-board 
which  preceded  the  piano-forte  were  the 
harpsichord,  or  spinet,  and  the  clavichord  ; 
and  all  such  instruments,  of  whatever  name, 
shape,  or  size,  belonged  to  one  or  the  other 
of  the  classes  represented  by  these  two,  which 
differed  from  one  another  radically  in  the 
means  by  which  the  sound  was  produced,  in 
the  quality  of  their  tones,  and  in  their  deriva- 
tion from  yet  older  instruments.  In  the  harp- 
sichord the  sound  was  produced  by  pluck- 
ing or  twanging  the  strings,  as  in  a  harp,  by 
points  of  some  hard  substance  elevated  on 
wooden  uprights  called  jacks  and  raised  by 
the  depression  of  the  keys.  In  the  clavi- 
chord, on  the  contrary,  the  sound  was  pro- 
duced by  the  pressure  against  the  string  of 
148 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte       149 

small  brass  wedges  called  tangents,  which 
serve'}  not  only  to  excite  its  vibrations  but 
at  the  same  time  shortened  the  vibrating 
length  and  fixed  the  pitch  of  the  tone  ;  so  that 
the  clavichord,  like  the  violin,  was  tuned  in 


MONOCHORD. 

From  the  Micrologus  of  Guido  d'Arezzo.     Manuscript  copy  of  the  twelfth 

century. 

the  act  of  playing,  while  in  the    harpsichord 
the  tone  was  fixed,  as  in  the  piano-forte. 

The  clavichord,  which  is  the  older   of  the 
two  instruments,  had  its  origin  in  the   mono- 


ISO 


Music 


chord  ;  which  was  at  first,  as  its  name  implies, 
a  single  string  stretched  over  a  sound-board 
and  measured  off  into  vibrating  lengths  by  a 
movable  bridge. 


mfcfldt 

^fc 

WSgS^L 

w!«>  LA    f\ 
5v/i  I 

l|r*i^*   Y/\ 

MizY 

MONOCHORD. 
From  the  Theorica  Musice  (1490)  of  Franchinus  Gafurius. 

On  the  sound-board  under  the  string  were 
marked  the  divisions  corresponding  to  the 
different  degrees  of  the  scale;  if  the  whole 
length  of  the  string  gave  the  tone  G,  eight- 
ninths    would    give    the  tone    A  ;    four-fifths 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte        151 

would  give  B;  three-quarters  C;  two-thirds 
D  ;  etc.  With  this  one-stringed  instrument, 
of  course,  no  two  tones  could  ever  be  sounded 
together.  Very  early,  therefore,  other  strings 
were  added,  all  tuned  in  unison  and  each 
furnished  with  its  own  movable  bridge.  In 
the  earliest  monochords  the  strings  were 
stretched  by  means  of  weights,  and  Greek 
theoreticians  mention  such  instruments  with 
as  many  as  four  strings.  A  primitive  sort  of 
key-board,  which  had  been  already  applied  to 
the  organ,  was  early  applied  also  to  the  mono- 
chord.  To  the  inner  end  of  the  key-lever 
was  attached  an  upright  wedge,  like  a  flat- 
tened pin,  which,  when  the  key  was  de- 
pressed by  the  finger,  struck  the  string,  set 
it  in  vibration  and  at  the  same  time  shortened 
it  to  the  length  indicated  by  the  position  of 
the  key  ;  thus  taking  the  place  of  the  movable 
bridge.  Guido  d'  Arezzo,  who  lived  in  the 
eleventh  century  and  was  a  famous  music- 
teacher,  advises  students  to  "exercise  the 
hand  in  the  use  of  the  monochord,"  and  from 
this  it  has  been  inferred  that  there  were  in 
his  day  monochords  with  some  sort  of  a  key- 
board. But  the  only  definite  information  we 
have  concerning  earl}7  musical  instruments  is 
from  representations  in  sculpture  and  painting 


152  Music 

and  descriptions  in  books,  and  the  earliest 
mention  of  a  clavichord  is  in  the  year  1404.  It 
is  impossible  to  fix  exactly  the  date  of  its  in- 
vention, which,  however,  the  historian  Am- 
bros  thinks  cannot  be  earlier  than  the  middle 
of  the  fourteenth  century. 

There  is  a  rare  and  curious  old  book  en- 
titled '  Musica  getutscht  und  ausgezogen 
durch  Sebastianum  Virdung,  Priesters  von 
Amberg,'  *  which  is  the  oldest  work  describing 
the  precursors  of  modern  musical  instruments. 
It  was  published  in  1511,1s  illustrated  with 
wood-cuts,  and  begins  with  a  description  of 
key-board  instruments  showing  distinctly  the 
difference  between  the  two  classes  represented 
by  clavichord  and  harpsichord.  Virdung  de- 
scribes the  oldest  monochord  known  to  him 
as  having  twenty  white  keys,  from  G  to  I, 
and  in  each  of  the  upper  two  octaves  a  single 
black  key  for  the  tone  B  flat — which  was  nec- 
essary for  the  Guidonian  system  of  hexa- 
chords.  Seven  strings  were  sufficient  to  al- 
low these  twenty-two  tones  to  be  heard,  and 
these  strings  were  all  tuned  in  unison  to  the 
lowest  tone  of  the  instrument,  G,  which  was 
sounded  bv  the  first  key  causing   the  whole 


*  Music  Depicted  and  Set  Forth  by  Sebastian  Virdung,  Priest 
of  Amberg. 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte        153 

length  of  the  string  to  vibrate.  The  second 
key  shortened  the  same  string  by  a  ninth  and 
sounded  A  ;  the  third  shortened  it  by  a  fifth 
and  sounded  B  ;  but  the  tangent  of  the  fourth 
key  touched  the  second  string,  and  shortening 
it  by  one-quarter  gave  the  tone  C ;  etc.  A 
strip  of  cloth,  which  was  the  common  damper 
for  all  the  strings,  prevented  the  vibration 
of  that  portion  which  was  not  desired  to 
sound. 

Since  the  tones  G,  A  and  B  were  all  pro- 
duced from  the  same  string,  they  of  course 
could  never  be  sounded  together,  and  in  the 
lowest  octave  the  first  possible  accord  would 
be  G  C.  But  with  the  growing  appreciation 
of  harmony  it  became  necessary  to  have  at 
least  so  many  strings  that  all  the  consonances 
of  the  ecclesiastical  modes,  which  were  then 
exclusively  in  use,  might  be  sounded.  How- 
ever, even  when  clavichords  were  manufact- 
ured with  key-boards  on  which  the  white  and 
black  keys  alternated  as  they  do  at  present, 
the  tangents  of  three  or  four  different  keys 
produced  their  tones  from  one  and  the  same 
string  by  causing  different  lengths  of  it  to 
vibrate.  These  clavichords  were  called  'ge- 
bunden,'  and  it  was  not  until  the  eighteenth 
century  that  a  so-called  '  bundfrei '  clavichord 


*54 


Music 


was  manufactured,  having  a  separate  string 
for  each  key. 

The  clavichord  always  retained  its  original 
shape — derived  from  the  monochord — that  of 
a  long,  rectangular  box,  which  at  first  stood 
upon  a  table  but  was  finally  provided  with 
feet  of  its  own,  and,  despite  the  fact  that  the 
number  of  both  keys  and    strings  was  con- 


stantly increased,  this  instrument  continued 
to  be  known  as  a  monochord  down  into  the 
sixteenth  century,  when  it  begins  to  be  called 
clavichord.* 

The  early  clavichords  had  all  the  strings 
of  the  same  length,  and  this  had  one  great  ad- 
vantage :  when  the  bridges  or  tangents  were 
once  fixed  exactly  in  the  required  places  it 
was  only  necessary  to  keep  the  strings  tuned 

*  From  clavis,  a  key,  and  chorda,  string. 


Precursors  of  the   Piano-forte        155 

in  unison.  But  as  the  compass  of  the  in- 
struments increased  this  was  found  to  be 
inconvenient,  and  finally  a  long,  wooden 
bridge  was  placed  diagonally  under  the 
strings,  which  were  turned  around  small  pegs 
and  so  gradually  shortened  up  to  the  highest 
tone.     The  introduction  of  the  bridge  made 


it  possible  to  give  to  the  upper  tones  not  only 
shorter  but  at  the  same  time  thinner  strings, 
and  to  the  lower  tones  longer  and  heavier 
ones.  The  thinner  the  string  the  greater 
must  be  its  length  in  order  to  produce  a  given 
tone.  If  the  bass  strings  of  modern  pianos 
were  no  thicker  than  those  in  the  treble  they 
would  have  to  be  enormously  long  in  propor- 
tion. Consequently,  as  the  compass  of  the 
key-board  increased  it  became  more  and  more 


156  Music 

desirable  to  be  able  to  use  strings  of  greater 
weight  for  the  bass  and  lesser  for  the  treble  ; 
and  this,  of  course,  involved  the  giving  up  of 
the  unisonal  tuning. 

With  the  giving  up  of  the  unison  of  the 
strings  and  the  gradual  superseding  of  the 
ecclesiastical  modes  by  the  modern  tonalities, 
began  that  series  of  experiments  in  search  of 
a  rule  for  the  tuning  of  instruments  of  fixed 
intonation,  which  occupied  both  theoreticians 
and  practical  musicians  for  many  decades, 
and  finally  resulted  in  the  universal  adoption 
of  the  system  of  equal  temperament. 

In  order  to  understand  what  is  meant  by 
equal  temperament  it  is  indispensable  to  dis- 
abuse our  minds  of  the  idea — the  result  of 
early  familiarity  with  the  piano-forte  key- 
board—that the  series  of  sounds  produced  by 
striking  in  succession  the  row  of  white  keys 
from  C  to  C  is  the  natural,  or  true,  scale. 
That  series  of  sounds  comprises  two  consecu- 
tive whole  tones,  or  steps,  a  semitone,  or  half- 
step,  three  consecutive  whole  tones  and  an- 
other semitone. 


Precursors  of  the   Piano-forte 


»57 


But  the  intervals  of  the  true  major  diatonic 
scale  really  are  the  following  : 


I 


.1 


•s?       a        a        -s>       .s        "s        a 
S        3        $        s        3        3        £ 

a  greater  tone,  a  lesser  tone,  a  semitone,  an- 
other greater  tone,  a  lesser  tone,  a  greater 
tone  and  another  semitone.  There  are,  more- 
over, in  addition  to  the  seven  sounds  of  the 
diatonic  scale,  certain  chromatic  tones,  which 
are  only  imperfectly  represented  on  the  piano- 
forte key-board.  Between  C  and  D  are  C 
sharp  and  D  flat — the  interval  from  C  to  C 
sharp  being  greater  than  that  from  C  to  D 
flat — between  G  and  A  are  G  sharp  and  A 
flat,  and  so  on.  The  twelve  scales  or  keys 
which  are  in  common  use  require  eleven 
chromatic,  in  addition  to  the  seven  diatonic, 
tones,  making  eighteen  within  the  compass 
of  a  single  octave.  The  human  voice  can,  of 
course,  produce  all  these  tones,  no  matter 
how  small  the  intervals  which  separate  them, 
and  instruments  like  the  violin  and  trombone 
also  can  be  played  with  just  intonation  ;  be- 
cause the  player  can  modify  the  pitch  as  he 
pleases.     But  with  instruments  whose  tones 


158  Music 

are  fixed,  like  the  piano  and  organ,  the  pitch 
does  not  depend  upon  the  player,  but  upon 
the  tuner,  and  the  number  of  tones  in  the  oc- 
tave being  limited,  if  some  scales  are  tuned 
perfectly  certain  tones  which  belong  to  other 
scales  will  be  missing.  If,  on  such  an  instru- 
ment, the  scale  of  C  is  tuned  correctly  accord- 
ing to  the  standard  of  the  true  major  diatonic 
scale,  given  above,  every  other  scale  will  be 
out  of  tune  ;  because  the  intervals  will  not  fit 
into  their  proper  places  in  the  series.  The 
interval  D  E,  which  in  the  scale  of  C  is  the 
second  step  and,  when  the  scale  is  perfectly 
tuned,  smaller  than  the  first  step,  must  in  the 
scale  of  D  serve  for  the  first  step,  which 
should  be  the  larger ;  and  so  with  all  the 
other  intervals. 

Numerous  experiments  have  been  made 
which  endeavored  to  supply  on  key-board 
instruments  the  number  of  tones  in  the  octave 
necessary  to  produce  all  the  scales  with  just 
intonation.  Zarlino  (1517-93),  the  most  in- 
genious and  progressive  theoretician  of  his 
day,  describes  an  instrument  which  he  had 
made.  Its  compass  was  but  two  octaves,  and 
the  lower,  or  white,  keys  were  arranged  as 
they  are  at  the  present  time.  Between  B  and 
C,  however,  and  E  and  F,  were  keys  in  form 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte        159 

and  position  like  our  black  ones,  but  white  in 
color,  and  between  all  the  other  lower  keys 
were  pairs  of  upper  ones  of  which  one  was 
black  and  the  other  white  ;  so  that  in  each 
octave  instead  of  twelve  there  were  nineteen 
keys,  representing  as  many  different  tones. 
"  But,"  says  Zarlino,  "  even  by  the  addition  of 
many  more  it  would  never  be  possible  to  at- 
tain perfect  purity  of  all  intervals,  nor  to  pro- 
duce more  agreeable  consonances  than  those 
already  known."  About  the  same  time  an- 
other instrument  was  manufactured  having 
five  key-boards  one  above  another,  and  upon 
this,  it  is  said,  all  scales  could  be  perfectly 
tuned. 

The  impracticability  of  manufacturing  and 
of  tuning  such  instruments,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  immense  difficulty  of  playing  upon 
them,  effectually  prevented  their  general  use, 
and  efforts  were  made  to  attain  by  other 
means  the  desired  end ;  that  of  producing 
upon  the  same  instrument  all  the  scales  with 
an  equal  degree  of  purity — or  impurity,  as 
many  of  the  musicians  of  the  time  considered 
it.  From  the  sixteenth  century  onward  ex- 
periments in  tuning  were  constantly  made  in 
the  endeavor  to  attain  this  end  with  only 
twelve   keys    to   the   octave.      Innumerable 


160  Music 

methods  were  proposed— and  opposed — and 
many  books  published,  in  which,  as  Matheson, 
writing  in  the  eighteenth  century,  says:  "As 
much  ado  is  made  about  it  as  if  the  welfare 
of  the  whole  world  depended  upon  the  tuning 
of  a  single  clavier." 

Rameau  was  the  first  to  propose  a  really 
practical  system — that  which,  in  principle  at 
least,  is  followed  by  the  tuners  of  the  present 
day.  By  this,  the  difference  between  C  and 
the  B  sharp  at  which  we  arrive  in  following  a 
succession  of  twelve  consecutive  fifths  up- 
ward is  evenly  divided  between  all  the  inter- 
vening fifths,  so  that  the  B  sharp  stands  to  C 
in  the  relation  of  an  octave  ;  and  the  same 
with  the  difference  between  C  and  the  D  flat 
which  we  find  by  following  a  succession  of 
twelve  fifths  downward.  As  this  difference 
is  only  about  one-fifth  of  a  semitone,  each  fifth 
loses  only  about  one  -  sixtieth  ;  a  compara- 
tively small  deviation  from  the  absolute  puri- 
ty of  the  interval.  Tuning  by  equal  temper- 
ament is  really  a  system  of  compromise — what 
is  taken  from  one  interval  being  added  to  an- 
other— the  result  being  the  division  of  the 
octave  into  twelve  equal  parts,  each  of  which 
differs  but  slightly  from  the  corresponding 
interval  of  the  true  scale.    One  of  these  parts 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte        irji 


is  taken  as  the  standard  of  measurement  for  a 
semitone,  and  two  for  a  whole  tone,  and  On 
an  instrument  of  fixed  intonation  tuned  by  this 


PSALTERY. 
From  the  painting  by  Orcagna,  in  the  National  Gallery,  London. 

duodecimal  division  of  the  octave  a  scale  con- 
sisting of  steps  and  half-steps  will  fit  any  where. 


162  Music 

The  method  of  tuning  by  equal  tempera- 
ment is  now  almost  universally  applied  to 
instruments  with  fixed  tones — though  even 
in  modern  times  organs  have  been  built  with 
key-boards  on  which  the  black  keys  are  di- 
vided, one-half  producing  the  flat,  and  the 
other  the  sharp,  tone.  "  There  can  be  no 
question,"  says  Helmholtz,  "  that  the  system 
of  tuning  by  equal  temperament  has,  by  its 
extreme  simplicity,  extraordinary  advantages 
for  instrumental  music ;  that  any  other  sys- 
tem would  necessitate  a  very  complicated 
mechanism  and  increase  in  proportion  the 
difficulties  of  performance ;  and  that,  there- 
fore, the  high  development  of  instrumental 
music  has  become  possible  only  by  the  gen- 
eral adoption  of  the  system  of  tempered  tun- 
ing." Without  this  system  modern  musical 
forms,  a  fundamental  principle  of  which  is 
key  relationship  and  contrast,  would  be  much 
restricted,  and  the  enharmonic  modulations  * 

*  The  word  enharmonic,  applied  in  the  Greek  system  to  in- 
tervals smaller  than  a  semitone,  is  in  modern  music  referred  to 
the  difference  between  two  tones  which  on  keyed  instruments 
tuned  by  equal  temperament  are  represented  by  one  and  the 
same  sound  ;  as,  for  instance,  C  sharp  and  D  flat.  If  we  con- 
sider the  tone  represented  in  one  chord  by  a  sharp  as  that  rep- 
resented in  another  chord  by  a  flat  we  shall  have  an  enharmonic 
modulation. 


Precursors  of  the   Piano-forte        163 


that  play  such  an  important  part  in  modern 
compositions  would  be  impossible.  The  mu- 
sician who  contributed  most  toward  the  gen- 
eral adoption  of  equal  temperament  was  John 
Sebastian  Bach  (1685-1750).  Bach,  who  al- 
ways tuned  his  own  instruments, 
tested  the  system  in  his  famous 
work, '  The  Well-tempered  Clavi- 
chord ; '  which  is  a  collection,  in 
two  parts,  of  forty-eight  preludes 
and  fugues  in  all  keys,  major  and 
minor  —  in  each  part  a  prelude 
and  fugue  in  each  key. 


The  tone  of  the  clavichord, 
though  agreeable  and  sensitive 
to  the  touch  of  the  player,  was 
always  feeble  and  wavering;  and 
the  natural  desire  for  an  instru- 
ment whose  strings  could  be 
excited  to  stronger  vibrations 
seems  to  have  resulted  in  the 
addition   of   a  keyboard    to   the  JACK 

psaltery  and  the  production  of 
the  class  of  instruments  represented  by  the 
harpsichord.  The  psaltery  is  a  trapeze-shaped 
instrument  played  by    plucking  the   strings 
with  the  fingers,  or  with  plectra  of  ivory  or 


164  Music 

metal  held  in  the  hand  or  fastened  into  rings 
worn  on  the  fingers  of  the  player.  In  the 
harpsichord  the  strings  were  set  in  vibration 
by  points  of  some  hard  substance  which 
twitched  or  plucked  them  as  the  depression 
of  the  keys  forced  the  points  upward  ;  and 
the  jack  which  twangs  the  string  of  the  harp- 
sichord corresponds  to  the  plectrum  of  the 
psaltery,  just  as  the  tangent  of  the  clavichord 


TANGENT. 


corresponds  to  the  bridge  of  the  monochord. 
About  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  centurv  quills 
were  substituted  for  the  points  of  shell  or 
ivory  which  had  previously  been  used,  and 
from  that  time  the  instrument  was  known 
also  by  the  name  of  spinet.* 

The  virginal,  which  was  identical  with  the 
spinet,  received  its  name,  according  to  an  an- 
cient lexicographer,  "  because  maids  and  vir- 
gins do  most  commonly  play  on  them."     The 


*  From  spina,  a  thorn  or  point,  though  the  name  has  also 
been  derived  from  Spinetti,  who  was  a  manufacturer  of  musical 
instruments. 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte        165 

long  harpsichords,  like  a  grand  piano,  were 

sometimes    described  as  spinet   or   virginal, 

but  the  rectangu- 

lar     instruments 

were  never  called 

harpsich  or  ds. 

In   France  the 

harpsichord    was 

called  clavegin. 

Early  stringed  in- 

struments  with 

key-boards    were 

made   in    many 

shapes   and  sizes 

and    known   b  v 

m  a  n  v  names  — 

clavicymbel, 

clavicytherium, 

rlivirpmhllo      From  '  Musica  getutscht  und  ausgezogen ' 

(1511)  by  Sebastian  Virdung. 

(or    simply    cem- 
balo),   arpicordo,    etc.    (see    illustrations    at 
the  end  of  this    volume),    but  whatever  the 


CLAVICYTHERIUM. 


*  The  shorter  strings  are,  apparently,  opposite  the  bass  keys, 
and  the  longer  opposite  the  treble.  For  this  seeming  irregu- 
larity of  construction  the  responsibility  rests  with  the  sixteenth 
century  artist,  who  has  drawn  the  instrument  upon  the  wood 
exactly  as  it  appeared  to  him — the  impression,  of  course,  show- 
ing everything  reversed. 


i66  Music 

variations  in  shape  or  nomenclature  they  can 
all  be  referred  to  the  two  classes  of  clavi- 
chord and  harpsichord  ;  that  is,  instruments 
on  which  the  sound  was  produced  by  press- 
ure and  shortening  of  the  string  by  means 
of  tangents,  and  instruments  on  which  the 
sound  was  produced  by  plucking  the  strings 
by  means  of  jacks  and  quills. 

The  cases  of  these  old  instruments  were 
often  exquisitely  ornamented  ;  carved,  inlaid 
with  ivory  and  other  precious  substances,  and 
sound-board,  cover  and  side-panels  decorated 
with  appropriate  mottoes,  or  paintings  by  ar- 
tists of  renown.  (See  illustrations  at  the  end 
of  this  volume.) 

The  compass  of  the  key-board  was  about 
four  and  a  half  octaves,  and  in  the  older  Ger- 
man instruments  the  natural  keys  are  often 
black  and  the  sharps  white ;  the  Italian  rule 
being  the  reverse  : 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte        167 

With  instruments  whose  strings  were  made 
to  vibrate  by  being  twitched,  or  plucked, 
modification  of  tone  by  means  of  touch  was 
not  possible;  but  some  of  these  instruments 
possessed  considerable  power.  The  harpsi- 
chord was  the  most  important  of  all  the  keyed 
instruments  that  preceded  the  piano-forte, 
and  until  nearly  the  close  of  the  last  century 
it  had  a  place  in  the  orchestra.  Harpsichord 
playing  was  most  esteemed  in  France  and 
Italy,  while  in  Germany  the  clavichord  was 
always  the  favorite  instrument.  The  clavi- 
chord was  comparatively  inexpensive,  easily 
tuned  and  kept  in  order,  while  the  cost  of 
tuning  a  harpsichord  and  renewing  the  quills 
must  have  been  considerable.  This  may  have 
contributed  to  recommend  the  former  to  the 
frugal  German  mind,  but  in  any  case  the  fact 
remains  that  the  "  gentle  and  intimate  clavi- 
chord "  was  always  the  favorite  instrument  in 
German  households.  An  old  German  lexi- 
cographer characterizes  the  clavichord  as  "the 
comfort  of  the  sufferer  and  the  sympathizing 
friend  of  cheerfulness."  Its  tone,  though  weak 
and  tremulous,  could  be  varied  by  the  touch 
of  the  player,  while  the  tone  of  the  harpsi- 
chord was  monotonous  and  always  staccato. 
From  the  clavichord  both  staccato  and  legato 


1 68  Music 

effects  might  be  obtained,  and  by  an  inter- 
mittent pressure  of  the  finger  a  continuous 
repetition  of  the  tone  could  be  produced. 

This  effect,  which  was  called  '  bebung,' 
was  much  admired.  Carl  Philipp  Emanuel 
Bach  (1713-88)  in  his  work  on  '  The  true  Art 
of  Playing  the  Clavier  '  says  :  "  I  believe  that 
a  good  clavichord  possesses,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  its  weaker  tone,  all  the  beauties  of  the 
piano-forte,  and  in  addition  the  '  bebung.'  " 
He  says  also  that  the  clavichord  is  the  instru- 
ment upon  which  one  can  best  form  his  judg- 
ment of  a  player.  The  clavichord  undoubt- 
edly required  more  nicety  of  execution  than 
the  harpsichord,  and  the  greater  capacity  of 
the  instrument  for  expressive  playing  de- 
manded correspondingly  greater  capacity  in 
the  performer.  Matheson,  writing  in  the 
early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  says  that 
"  for  the  clavichord  one  must  have  a  delicate 
hand  and  execute  all  the  ornaments  distinctly, 
while  upon  the  harpsichord,  with  its  loud  and 
echoing  tones,  much  slovenly  playing  will  be 
passed  over."  The  clavichord  was  the  favor- 
ite instrument  of  the  great  Bach,  and  even 
Beethoven  is  reported  to  have  said  that  on 
the  clavichord  one  could  best  control  tone 
and  expression. 


Precursors  of  the   Piano-forte        169 


The  pedal,  which  was  first  used  to  double 
the  bass  tones  of  the  organ,  was  early  applied 
to  the  clavier  and  connected  with  dampers 
for  producing  different  degrees  and  qualities 
of  tone.  There  were  also  contrivances  worked 
by  the  knees  of  the  player,  like  the  swell  in 
the  modern  reed  organ,  and  stops  for  differ- 
ent registers,  couplers  and  other  organ  de- 
vices. The  shifting  key-board  also  was  an 
early  invention.  Praetorius  describes  an  in- 
strument of  the  sixteenth  century  on  which 
the  key-board  could  be  moved  four  semitones 
to  the  right,  so  that  a  composition  might  be 
easily  transposed  from  C  into  E  or  any  of  the 
intervening  keys.  In  the  course  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  inventions  and  combinations 
of  all  kinds  were  applied  to  keyed  instru- 
ments with  strings  ;  some  to  vary  the  quality 
of  tone  or  increase  its  duration,  some  to  pro- 
duce crescendo  or  diminuendo  effects;  but 
most  of  them  seem  to  have  endeavored  by 
means  of  stops  to  imitate  all  the  tones  of  the 
full  orchestra.  Various  keyed  instruments 
also  were  invented  which  sought  to  produce 
sustained  tone  by  some  application  of  the 
principle  of  the  bow.  In  some  of  these  the 
strings  were  made  to  vibrate  by  being  rubbed 
with  small  wheels  ;  in  others,  the  depression 


170 


Music 


of  the  key  pressed  the  string  against  a  bow 
of  horse-hair,  the  motion  of  which  was  con- 
trolled by  a  pedal ;  but  as  the  piano-forte 
gradually  approached  perfection  it  drove  all 
its  rivals  from  the  field. 

The  piano-forte  *  was  invented  in  Florence 
about  the  year  17 10  by  a  harpsichord  maker 
named  Bartolomei  Christofori.  As  the  harp- 
sichord seems  to  have  been  derived  from  the 


psaltery,  and  the  clavichord  from  the  mono- 
chord,  so  the  piano-forte  shows  clearly  its 
connection  with  the  dulcimer;  which  is  an 
instrument  almost  identical  in  construction 
with  the  psaltery,  but  played  in  an  entirely 
different  manner — the  strings  of  the  dulcimer 
being  struck  with  small  hammers,  while  in 
the  psaltery  the  sound  is  produced  by  pluck- 
ing the  strings.f 

*  Piano  e  forte — soft  and  loud. 

t  The  dulcimer  is  the  cymbal  of  the  Hungarian  gypsies. 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte        171 

Indeed,  the  performances  of  a  celebrated 
virtuoso  upon  the  dulcimer,  Pantaleon  He- 
benstreit,  seem  to  have  suggested  in  more 
than  one  mind  the  possibility  of  substituting 
hammers  for  the  jack  of  the  harpsichord. 

Although  the  honor  of  being  the  inventor 
of  the  piano-forte  belongs  to  Christofori,  to 
Gottfried  Silbermann,  of  Dresden,  is  due 
the  credit  of  the  development  and  improve- 
ment which  first  rendered  its  acceptance  by 
musicians  in  any  degree  general.  The  mech- 
anism of  the  early  models  was  very  imper- 
fect, and  good  harpsichords  were  preferable 
to  poor  piano-fortes.  Silbermann,  who  seems 
to  have  had  great  perseverance  and  tenacity 
of  purpose,  spent  the  larger  portion  of  his 
working  years  in  effort  and  experiment 
toward  the  improvement  of  the  piano-forte. 
Agricola,  Bach's  pupil,  says:  "With  him 
all  workmanship  must  be  genuine  and  good  ; 
he  would  have  nothing  for  show,  and  defect- 
ive work,  even  finished  piano-fortes,  he  de- 
stroyed." The  same  writer  goes  on  to  say  : 
"  Herr  Silbermann  at  first  finished  two  of 
these  instruments,  one  of  which  the  late 
Herr  Capellmeister,  Herr  Johann  Sebastian 
Bach,  examined  and  played  upon.  He  ad- 
mired   and    praised  the  tone,  but    censured 


172  Music 

the  weakness  of  the  upper  notes  and  the 
heaviness  of  the  action.  This  criticism  Herr 
Silbermann,  who  could  never  endure  to  have 
any  fault  found  with  his  work,  took  very 
ill,  and  kept  for  a  long  time  his  anger  against 
Herr  Bach.  Nevertheless,  his  conscience 
told  him  that  Herr  Bach  was  right,  and  he 
held  it  for  better  not  to  give  out  any  more  of 
these  instruments,  but  strove  industriously 
to  correct  the  faults  which  Herr  Bach  had 
pointed  out.  To  this  end  he  labored  many 
years,  and  that  this  was  the  true  reason  of 
his  delay  he  candidly  acknowledged  to  me 
himself.  Finally,  however,  Herr  Silbermann, 
having  really  made  many  improvements,  sold 
one  of  these  instruments  to  the  court  at 
Rudolstadt,  and  shortly  after  his  Majesty 
the  King  of  Prussia  ordered  several  "  (which 
are  yet  in  the  various  palaces  at  Potsdam). 
"  On  all  these  instruments  could  be  seen  and 
heard,  particularly  by  those  who,  like  myself, 
had  already  seen  the  older  ones,  how  indus- 
triously and  perseveringly  Herr  Silbermann 
had  labored  for  their  improvement.  Herr 
Silbermann  had  also  the  praiseworthy  ambi- 
tion to  show  one  of  these  later  instruments 
to  the  Herr  Capellmeister  Bach,  and  obtained 
from  him  the  fullest  approbation." 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte        173 


Although  the  greatest  musicians  acknowl- 
edged the  value  of  the  piano-forte,  it  was 
many  years  before  it  took  the  rank  which  it 
deserved  ;  the  main  reason  being,  probably, 
that  the  new  instrument  demanded  a  new 
technique.  The  first  writer  who  notices 
Christofori's  invention  says:  "Many  musi- 
cians will  not  give  to  this  instrument  the 
praise  which  is  due,  because  the  tone  is  too 
soft  and  dull  ;  although  one  becomes  easily 
accustomed  to  it,  and  soon  prefers  the  piano- 
forte to  all  other  instruments.  But  the  chief 
objection  which  is  raised  is  this  :  that  one 
must  learn  to  play  upon  it  after  an  entirely 
new  fashion,  even  if  one  is  already  well  prac- 
tised in  playing  upon  other  keyed  instru- 
ments. Being,  however,  an  entirely  new  in- 
vention, it  is,  of  course,  necessary  first  to 
study  its  nature  in  order  to  bring  forth  with 
taste  and  skill  its  special  excellencies."  Prej- 
udice never  yields  so  slowly  as  when  sup- 
ported by  habit.  A  writer  in  the  year  1782 
says:  "With  the  harpsichord  the  heart  can- 
not speak — there  is  no  light  nor  shade,  but 
only  a  clear,  definite  outline.  The  piano-forte 
stands  higher,  especially  if  it  be  a  good  in- 
strument. With  it  the  heart  can  already 
speak,  and  express  with  its  light  and  shade 


174  Music 

manifold  emotions.  But  highest  of  all  stands 
the  clavichord.  Excluded  by  its  nature  from 
the  public  concert,  it  is  so  much  the  more  the 
confidant  of  loneliness  and  solitude.  With 
the  clavichord  can  the  heart  give  itself  fullest 
expression.  To  know  a  virtuoso,"  he  con- 
cludes, "one  must  hear  him  at  the  clavichord, 
not  at  the  piano-forte,  least  of  all  at  the  harp- 
sichord." Another  writer  says:  "  The  harp- 
sichord exercises  the  hand  after  the  correct 
manner,  therefore  a  beginner  should  first 
practise  on  the  harpsichord.  The  piano-forte 
must  be  handled  very  differently,  and  this  in- 
strument is  very  far  from  giving  all  shades 
of  expression.  But  the  clavichord — that  soli- 
tary, melancholy,  unspeakably  sweet  instru- 
ment— has  advantages  above  both.  By  the 
pressure  of  the  finger,  the  trembling  of  the 
strings,  by  the  strongei  or  more  delicate 
touch  of  the  hand,  the  swelling  and  dimin- 
ishing of  the  tone,  the  melting  trill,  the  por- 
tamento, every  impulse  of  emotion  can  find 
expression." 

The  great  step  in  the  construction  of  the 
piano-forte  was  made  when  metal  began  to 
be  used,  first  for  strengthening  and  afterward 
as  the  sole  material  for  the  frame.  This  made 
possible  the  use  of  heavy  strings  under  great 


Precursors  of  the  Piano-forte        175 


tension,  and  such  strings  give  the  purest  and 
most  brilliant  tone.  In  a  modern  concert 
grand  the  strings  exert  a  force  of  about 
75,000  pounds,  and  only  the  solid  iron  frame 
preserves  the  instrument  from  destruction. 
The  thickest  bass  string  of  the  first  pianos  was 
thinner  than  the  smallest  treble  string  of  a 
modern  instrument,  and  when  the  only  resist- 
ing material  was  wood  the  tension  had  to 
be  correspondingly  slight.  It  was  not  until 
metal  bracing  had  been  successfully  applied 
to  the  piano-forte  that  the  newer  instrument 
definitely  superseded  the  older  ones. 


X 

Development  of  Piano-forte  Playing 


THE  technique  of  the  clavier  seems  to  have 
been  at  first  identical  with  that  of  the 
organ.  The  early  composers  apparently  rec- 
ognized no  difference,  as  far  as  technical  treat- 
ment was  concerned,  between  the  two  instru- 
ments, and  even  as  late  as  the  seventeenth 
century  music  was  published  with  the  indica- 
tion '  for  organ  or  clavier '  upon  the  title-page. 
It  was  in  Venice,  that  great  commercial  re- 
public of  the  Middle  Ages  which  early  be- 
came a  centre  of  art  and  learning,  that  the 
difference  between  organ  and  clavier  seems 
first  to  have  been  definitely  recognized. 
Venice  was  in  the  sixteenth  century  cele- 
brated for  her  excellent  organists,  many  of 
whom  were  known  also  as  clavier  players, 
and  one  of  these,  Claudio  Merulo,  contributed 
very  materially  to  the  formation  of  a  style  of 
176 


Piano-forte  Playing  177 

composition  suited  especially  to  the  clavier 
as  distinguished  from  the  organ — his  toccatas 
exhibiting  the  broken  chords,  quick  runs  and 
lively  figures  which  were  peculiarly  appro- 
priate to  the  delicate  and  evanescent  tone  of 
the  older  instruments.* 

Here  is  a  letter  written  nearly  four  centu- 
ries ago,  which  proves  that  even  at  that  early 
date  the  clavichord — monochord  it  was  then 
called — was  a  favorite  instrument  in  private 
circles,  and  that  it  was  even  then  customary 
for  the  daughters  of  wealthy  and  cultivated 
families  to  learn  to  play  upon  it  as  a  part  of 
their  regular  education.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  such  young  maidens  were  generally 
sent  to  the  convents  to  be  educated,  and  we 
know  that  some  of  the  best  organists  in  Ven- 
ice were  at  the  same  time  music-teachers  in 
various  convents.  About  the  year  1529  the 
daughter  of  Pietro  Bembo,  well  known  as  a 
poet  and  man  of  letters,  wrote  to  beg  permis- 
sion to  share  such  instruction — to  take  music- 
lessons,  as  we  should  say — and  this  is  a  por- 
tion of  the  father's  answer  :  "  Touching  thy 
desire  to  learn  to  play  upon  the  monochord, 


*  A  toccata — literally  a  touch  piece,  as  a  sonata  was  a  sound 
piece  and  a  cantata  a  piece  to  be  sung — was  a  composition  de- 
signed to  exhibit  the  technique  of  the  performer. 


178  Music 

I  answer,  since  because  of  thy  tender  years 
thou  canst  not  know  of  thyself,  that  playing 
is  suited  only  for  vain  and  frivolous  women ; 
but  I  desire  thee  to  be  the  purest  and  most 
lovable  maiden  in  the  world.  Moreover,  thou 
wouldst  have  but  little  pleasure  or  renown  if 
thou  playedst  badly,  and  to  play  well  it  would 
be  necessary  for  thee  to  spend  ten  or  twelve 
years  in  practice,  without  being  able  to  think 
on  anything  else.  Consider  for  thyself  if  that 
would  be  proper  for  thee.  If  now  thy  friends 
and  companions  desire  thee  to  learn  to  play 
in  order  to  give  them  pleasure,  so  say  to 
them  that  thou  wishest  not  to  make  thyself 
ridiculous  before  them,  and  content  thyself 
with  learning  and  handiwork."  Bembo's 
opinions  have  been  shared  by  many  sensible 
fathers  in  later  times. 

Besides  the  toccatas  there  were  for  early 
clavier  players  canzone  '  per  sonar  ' — to  dis- 
tinguish them  from  the  canzone  which  were 
to  be  sung — and  so-called  sonatas.  There 
were  also  the  more  strictly  contrapuntal  com- 
positions, canons  and  fugues,  and  finally  the 
popular  melodies  and  dance-tunes.  These 
had  long  been  used  by  composers  as  the  foun- 
dation for  vocal  works,  but  being  spaced  off 
in  very   long  notes  and  surrounded  by  the 


Piano-forte   Playing 


!79 


elaborate  counterpoint  of  the  other  parts,  had 
in  such  compositions  entirely  lost  all  charac- 
ter. But  these  melodies  and  dance-tunes  ar- 
ranged simply  for  clavier  became  extremely 
popular,  and  from  them  was  developed  the 
artistic  partita  or  suite. 

Until  the  seventeenth  century  all  music  was 
constructed  contrapuntally — that  is,  all  the 
parts  or  voices  were  independent,  and  each 
complete  in  itself.  There  were  as  many  staves 
as  voices,  and  these  were  not  always  written 
one  over  the  other,  but  sometimes  even  on 
different  pages  of  the  book;  so  that  the  diffi- 
culty for  the  player  who  had  to  unite  these 
separate  voices  in  chords  was  great.*  To 
facilitate    this   task    a    series    of    bass   notes 


Figured  bass.  7 

4 

5        6:! 


§s 


6 

4        — 


9  8 
5  — 
4         3 


Solution. 


*  The  concentration  of  all  the  parts  upon  a  system  of  two 
staves  only,  as  in  modern  piano-forte  music,  dates  from  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century 


180  Music 

called  basso  continuo,  or  thoroughbass,  was 
provided,  and  to  this  were  added  the  figures 
and  signs  of  transposition  indicating  the 
chords,  from  which  it  afterward  received 
the  name  of  figured  bass.  For  nearly  two 
centuries  oratorios  and  operas  were  always 
accompanied  by  organ  or  harpsichord,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  other  instruments,  and  the  ac- 
companist was  expected  to  construct  the 
harmonies  from  this  basso  continuo,  or  fig- 
ured bass,  which  was  all  that  was  ever  fur- 
nished by  the  composer  ;  so  the  study  of  this 
branch  of  musical  art  became  a  very  impor- 
tant part  in  the  education  of  every  organ  and 
clavier  player. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  first  regular  instruction-book  for  clavier 
and  organ  was  published  at  Venice.  In  this 
the  author,  Girolamo  Diruta,  draws  especial 
attention  to  the  difference  between  clavier 
and  organ  playing,  and  gives  rules  for  the 
position  of  the  hands  and  for  fingering.  At 
that  time,  and  for  long  afterward,  the  thumb 
and  little  finger  were  almost  never  used  in 
playing.  In  fingering  the  scales  the  right 
hand,  ascending,  used  alternately  the  middle 
and  ring  fingers — descending,  the  middle  and 
forefingers;   for  the  left  hand  the  rule   was 


Piano-forte  Playing 


181 


the  reverse.     This  kind  of  fingering  was  not 
altogether  unreasonable  as  applied  to  the  in- 


struments then   in   use.     The  key-boards  of 
the  earlier  organs  were  so  high  above  the 


l82 


Music 


seat  of  the  player  that  the  elbows  were  con- 
siderably lower  than  the  hands,  and  music 
for  both  organ  and  clavier,  which  were  then 
not  tuned  by  equal  temperament,  was  written 


ORGAN    WITH    PROJECTING    KEVBOARD. 
From  an  early  sixteenth  century  picture. 


Piano-forte  Playing  183 

in  only  the  simplest  tonalities;  so  that  the 
black  keys  were  but  seldom  required.  More- 
over, the  tone  was  produced  by  pressure, 
and  this  could  best  be  applied  by  the  three 
longer  fingers  straightened  out ;  while  the 
thumb  and  little  finger  would  be  below  the 
level  of  the  key-board,  which  in  the  older 
instruments  projected  beyond  the  frame- 
work. 

But  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury three  great  players  in  three  different 
countries  —  France,  Italy,  and  Germany  — 
revolutionized  existing  methods.  These  were 
Francois  Couperin  (1668- 1733),  Domenico 
Scarlatti  (1683-1757)  and  John  Sebastian  Bach 
(1685-1750),  and  to  them  we  are  chiefly  in- 
debted for  the  definite  establishment  of  a  dis- 
tinct clavier  style,  and  the  development  in 
technique  of  lightness,  elegance  and  grace. 
Scarlatti,  who  was  a  remarkably  brilliant  and 
clever  player,  was  the  first  to  introduce  a 
rapid  crossing  of  the  hands,  running  passages 
in  thirds  and  sixths,  quick  repetition  of  a  tone 
by  striking  the  key  with  successive  fingers, 
and  many  other  technical  devices  now  famil- 
iar, but  in  his  day  absolutely  novel.  Couperin, 
though  a  less  brilliant  player  than  Scarlatti, 
was  a  very  elegant  and  refined  musician.    His 


184  Music 

melodies  are  profusely  ornamented  with  all 
those  graceful  turns,  trills,  etc.,  by  which  the 
early  composers  endeavored  to  disguise  the 
thin  tone  of  the  older  instruments,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  give  to  instrumental 
compositions  distinctive  titles  expressive  of 
the  character  of  the  music.  Couperin  was 
also  one  of  the  first  to  use  the  thumb  in  play- 
ing, and  in  his  work,  '  L'Art  de  toucher  du 
Clavegin,'  gives  numerous,  though  irregular, 
examples  of  its  employment.  But  to  John 
Sebastian  Bach,  who  was  by  far  the  greatest 
genius  of  the  three,  fingering  owes  its  devel- 
opment into  a  system.  He  fixed  the  place  of 
the  thumb  in  the  scale,  and  made  free  use  of 
both  that  and  the  little  finger,  raising  the 
wrists  and  curving  the  fingers,  which  in  play- 
ing, it  is  said,  he  drew  gently  inward  with- 
out moving  the  rest  of  the  hand.  We  must 
remember,  however,  that  the  instrument  upon 
which  Bach  habitually  played  was  the  clavi- 
chord, the  tone  of  which  was  produced  by 
pressure,  not  by  the  blow  necessitated  by  the 
hammer  of  the  piano-forte,  which  compels 
the  raising  of  the  fingers.  The  clavichord 
was  Bach's  favorite  instrument.  He  said 
that  he  found  no  soul  in  the  clavecin,  or 
spinet,  and  the  early  piano-fortes,  the  mechan- 


Piano-forte  Playing  185 

ism  of  which  was  still  imperfect,  he  thought 
clumsy  and  harsh. 

Before  the  piano-forte  came  into  general 
use  clavier  technique  was  already  highly 
developed  and  the  literature  of  key-board  in- 
struments both  extensive  and  valuable.  But 
the  quality  of  the  tone  produced  and  the 
limitations  of  the  technique  required  to  pro- 
duce it  unite  to  determine  the  character  of 
the  music  composed  for  any  instrument,  and 
with  the  perfecting  of  the  piano-forte  not 
only  the  manner  of  playing  but  also  the  style 
of  composition  altered  very  materially.  In 
the  clavichord,  the  tone  of  which  was  pro- 
duced by  pressure  of  the  tangent  on  the 
string,  the  tone  might  be  prolonged  by  con- 
tinued pressure,  but  was  always  weak  and 
tremulous.  Since  the  key  must  be  kept 
pressed  down  as  long  as  the  sound  was  de- 
sired to  continue,  and  as  too  strong  a  pressure 
sharpened  the  pitch  of  the  tone,  a  brilliant 
style  was  hardly  to  be  cultivated  on  the  clav- 
ichord. But  on  the  more  brilliant  harpsi- 
chord the  player  had  absolutely  no  control 
over  the  tone  beyond  the  mere  staccato 
twanging  of  the  string  by  the  jack,  and  flu- 
ency and  rapidity  were  the  qualities  demand- 
ed   by   compositions    for   that     instrument ; 


186  Music 

while  in  music  for  both  clavichord  and  harp- 
sichord a  profusion  of  embellishments  was 
considered  necessary  to  disguise  the  tonal 
deficiencies  and  compensate  for  the  lack  of 
sustained  melody.  But  with  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  hammer,  producing  a  more  pro- 
longed tone  the  dynamic  force  of  which  could 
be  controlled  by  the  touch  of  the  player,  was 
gained  greater  power  of  expressing  personal 
sentiment;  and  in  compositions  for  the  piano- 
forte the  lyrical  element  begins  to  appear. 

Carl  Philipp  Emanuel  Bach  (1713-88)  was 
the  first  to  practically  recognize  the  change  of 
treatment  demanded  by  the  new  instrument. 
In  his  essay  on  '  The  True  Art  of  Playing  the 
Clavier'  he  lays  much  stress  upon  the  impor- 
tance of  a  singing  style.  "  Methinks,"  he  says, 
"  music  ought  principally  to  move  the  heart ; 
and  in  this  no  performer  on  the  piano-forte 
will  succeed  by  merely  thumping  and  drum- 
ming, or  by  continual  arpeggio  playing.  Dur- 
ing the  last  few  years  my  chief  endeavor  has 
been  to  play  the  piano-forte,  in  spite  of  its 
deficiency  in  sustaining  the  sound,  as  much  as 
possible  in  a  singing  manner,  and  to  compose 
for  it  accordingly." 

In  this  essay,  which  was  the  first  really  im- 
portant work  on  clavier  playing,  he  bases  fin- 


Pianoforte   Playing  187 


gering  on  scientific  principles.  He  says  that 
the  hands  should  swing  freely  in  a  horizontal 
position  over  the  key-board,  with  the  fingers 
curved  ;  that  playing  with  straightened  fin- 
gers separates  the  longer  ones  too  far  from  the 
thumb,  and  renders  this,  which  is  really  the 
principal  finger,  incapable  of  performing  its 
duty.  The  black  keys,  which  are  shorter  and 
lie  higher  than  the  white  ones,  belong  natu- 
rally to  the  three  longer  fingers  ;  and  this,  he 
says,  is  the  reason  for  the  first  and  principal 
rule — that  the  little  finger  is  seldom,  and  the 
thumb  only  in  case  of  absolute  necessity,  to  be 
used  upon  the  black  keys.  He  also  gives 
rules  for  the  performance  of  the  numerous 
ornaments  that  were  so  conspicuous  in  the 
music  of  his  day,  counsels  the  player  to  train 
and  develop  the  left  hand  equally  with  the 
right,  advises  practice  upon  the  harpsichord, 
which  required  more  strength  of  finger  than 
the  light-actioned  clavichord,  and  finally 
treats,  with  great  good  sense,  of  expression 
and  the  manner  of  performance.  "  Good  ex- 
ecution," he  remarks,  "  is  the  art  of  so  pre- 
senting musical  thoughts  that  the  hearers 
shall  comprehend  their  true  meaning  and 
emotional  content;  for  by  the  manner  of  per- 
formance one  and  the  same  thought  may  re- 


188  Music 

ceive  quite  different  interpretations.  There- 
fore, take  not  an  adagio  too  quickly  nor  an 
allegro  too  slowly  ;  give  to  all  notes  the  values 
which  belong  to  them,  and  let  the  execution 
be  everywhere  clear,  flowing  and  distinct. 
From  the  soul  must  one  play,  and  not  like  a 
trained  bird ;  for  a  musician  cannot  touch 
the  feelings  of  others  without  being  moved 
by  the  same  feelings  himself — he  must  share 
all  those  emotions  which  he  desires  to  excite 
in  the  breasts  of  his  hearers."  Emanuel  Bach 
was  the  representative  musician  of  his  day, 
and  as  regards  both  playing  and  composition 
he  exercised  a  decided  influence.  Haydn 
(1732-1809)  and  Mozart  (1756-91)  acknowl- 
edged their  indebtedness  to  him,  and  in  all 
their  compositions  the  lyrical  element,  upon 
which  he  laid  such  stress,  predominates.* 

Mozart's  contemporaries  all  testify  to  the 
excellence  of  his  playing.  Clementi  declared 
that  he  had  never  heard  anyone  play  with 
so  much  charm  as  Mozart,  and  Haydn  said 
that  Mozart's  playing  "  went  to  the  heart." 
" '  Three  things  are  necessary  for  a  good  per- 
former,'  said  Mozart,  pointing  significantly 

*  Mozart  was  one  of  the  first  to  compose  pieces  for  two  per- 
formers at  one  key-board.  Before  his  day  the  compass  of  the 
instruments  was  hardly  sufficient  for  this. 


Piano-forte  Playing  189 


to  his  head,  to  his  heart  and  to  the  tips  of  his 
fingers,  as  symbolical  of  understanding,  sym- 
pathy and  technical  skill." 

Yet  Mozart,  with  all  his  genius  and  charm, 
was  hardly  a  piano-forte  player  in  the  mod- 
ern sense,  his  technique  being  rather  that  of 
the  harpsichord.  The  founder  of  modern 
piano-forte  technique  was  Muzio  Clementi 
(1752-1832),  who  may  be  regarded  as  the  first 
gri;at  piano-forte  virtuoso,  his  compositions 
heading  the  list  of  those  that  pay  the  greatest 
attention  to  merely  mechanical  skill.  Cle- 
menti, who  seems  to  have  divined  almost  by 
instinct  the  kind  of  treatment  to  which  the 
piano-forte  best  responds,  introduced  many 
technical  novelties — passages  in  double  thirds 
and  sixths,  runs  in  octaves,  etc.  (see  his  cele- 
brated collection  of  studies,  the  '  Gradus  ad 
Parnassum  ') — and  his  compositions  demand 
for  their  performance  much  greater  muscular 
force  and  endurance  than  had  been  required 
by  anything  before  his  day.  Clementi  was 
for  many  years  a  partner  in  an  English  piano 
manufacturing  firm,  and  made  many  impor- 
tant improvements  in  the  construction  of  the 
instrument.  As  his  intimate  practical  ac- 
quaintance with  every  detail  of  its  mechanism 
enabled  him  to  make  use  of  every  technical 


190  Music 

device  for  developing  to  the  utmost  its  re 
sources  of  tone  and  brilliancy,  so,  recipro- 
cally, his  immense  and  ever  increasing  tech- 
nique, making  constantly  greater  and  greater 
demands  upon  the  capacity  of  the  instrument, 
led  him  continually  to  improve  its  mechan- 
ism. The  compass  of  the  key-board,  which 
had  been  but  five  or  five  and  a  half  octaves, 
was  extended  to  six  and  six  and  a  half,  and 
the  piano-forte  became  for  the  first  time  pow- 
erful and  sonorous,  well  adapted  to  the  playing 
of  sustained  melody  and  vigorous  passages. 

Beethoven  (1770-1827),  whose  achievements 
as  a  composer  have  quite  overshadowed  his 
fame  as  a  pianist,  introduced  the  dramatic 
element  into  instrumental  music.  With  de- 
menti as  his  model  for  technical  development 
he  acquired  the  perfect  command  of  the  in- 
strument which  is  necessary  for  the  success- 
ful performance  of  his  greatest  compositions, 
but  cared  nothing  for  mere  brilliancy  and 
polish  of  execution.  One  of  his  pupils  says 
that  in  the  lesson  he  was  "  comparatively  care- 
less as  to  the  right  notes  being  played,  but 
angry  at  once  at  any  failure  in  expression,  or 
in  comprehension  of  the  character  of  the 
piece  ;  saying  that  the  first  might  be  an  acci- 
dent, but  that  the  other  showed  want  of  knowl- 


Piano-forte   Playing  191 


edge,  or  feeling,  or  attention."  With  his  ex- 
tempore playing  he  roused  his  audiences  to 
the  highest  pitch  of  excitement.  Czerny 
says:  "  Frequently  not  an  eye  remained  dry, 
while  many  would  break  out  into  loud  sobs; 
for  there  was  something  wonderful  in  his  ex- 
pression." Beethoven's  playing  has  been 
characterized  as  tone  painting  and  compared 
to  dramatic  recitation.  Schindler,  his  friend 
and  biographer,  says  that  in  the  performance 
of  his  piano-torte  works  Beethoven  laid  the 
greatest  stress  upon  the  musical  declama- 
tion ;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  although  the  poet  in  his 
monologue  or  dialogue  follows  a  regular  and 
definite  rhythm,  yet  the  actor  or  reciter,  to 
insure  a  perfect  comprehension  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  poem,  makes  rests  and  pauses  even 
where  the  poet  would  not  venture  to  indicate 
them,  so  must  a  player  employ  this  art  of  dec- 
lamation in  his  performance  of  the  music." 
Almost  any  mature  work  of  Beethoven  re- 
veals this  dramatic  element.  In  some  there 
are  passages  of  distinct  recitative,  the  words 
of  which  we  seem  almost  to  hear  ;  in  others, 
the  intensity  of  the  passion  gives  to  the  mu- 
sic the  force  of  a  personal  utterance,  at  times 
the  immensity  of  the  thought  even  obscuring 
its  expression. 


192  Music 

dementi's  most  celebrated  pupil  was  the 
talented  Irishman,  John  Field  (1 782-1837), 
whose  influence,  both  as  player  and  com- 
poser, has  been  felt  by  all  later  pianists,  de- 
menti kept  him  in  the  warerooms  to  show  off 
the  instruments,  which  at  that  time  were  con- 
stantly improving  in  the  direction  of  power 
and  quality  of  tone,  and  Field  made  good  use 
of  his  opportunities  ;  his  touch  surpassing,  in 
beauty  and  sustaining  power,  all  that  had 
been  heard  before.  Liszt  says  that  Field, 
who  was  the  inventor  of  the  nocturne,  was 
the  first  to  free  piano  -  forte  compositions 
from  the  fetters  of  the  custom  which  made  it 
obligatory  for  such  a  piece  to  be  a  sonata, 
rondo,  or  the  like.  He  says:  "Field  intro- 
duced a  new  race  of  compositions  in  which 
feeling  and  song  predominated,  free  from 
the  shackles  of  any  superimposed  pattern. 
He  opened  the  way  for  that  long  series  of 
4  Songs  without  Words,' '  Impromptus,'  '  Bal- 
lades,' etc.,  which  have  since  appeared,  and 
to  him  may  be  traced  the  origin  of  all  those 
compositions  which  seek  through  the  medium 
of  tones  to  give  expression  to  the  most  inti- 
mate moods  and  innermost  feelings  of  the 
soul." 

In   the  first   half   of   the   present   century 


Piano-forte  Playing  193 

piano-forte  technique  sustained  an  extraordi- 
nary development.  Before  its  commence- 
ment the  difference  between  the  piano-forte 
and  its  predecessors  had  been  definitely  rec- 
ognized and  the  principles  of  fingering  es- 
tablished. The  construction  of  the  instru- 
ment steadily  improved,  and  as  its  resources 
became  better  understood  the  capacity  of  the 
human  hand,  also,  was  carefully  studied  and 
systematically  developed.  The  heavier  ac- 
tion of  the  newer  instruments  compelled  the 
lifting  of  the  fingers  and  demanded  increased 
muscular  force,  and  the  quiet  position  of  the 
older  players  was  gradually  superseded  by 
free  movements  of  wrist  and  arm. 

Technical  efficiency  is  the  legitimate  and 
necessary  means  by  which  a  musical  work 
is  presented  to  the  hearer ;  but  often  what 
should  be  only  the  means  is  regarded  as  the 
end  of  artistic  effort.  In  the  earlier  part  of 
this  century  technical  execution  was  brought 
to  a  very  high  degree  of  perfection  by  a  num- 
ber of  players  who  regarded  the  art  of  com- 
position merely  as  affording  opportunities  for 
the  exhibition  of  mechanical  skill.  Thalberg 
(18 1 2-71)  was  probably  the  greatest  virtuoso 
of  this  class.  The  perfection  of  his  technique 
justly  commanded  admiration,  being  the  re- 


194  Music 

suit  of  a  diligent  and  complete  training  of 
the  fingers  upon  legitimate  principles,  but 
his  compositions  were  almost  exclusively 
bravura  pieces  intended  for  the  display  of 
his  own  wonderful  manual  dexterity. 

It  was  the  leaders  of  the  romantic  school — 
Mendelssohn  (1809-47),  Schumann  (1810-56), 
Chopin  (1810-49),  Liszt  (181 1-86)— who  final- 
ly restored  the  musical  idea  to  its  rightful 
position  of  first  importance ;  recognizing 
virtuosity  only  as  serving  to  give  the  clear- 
est and  most  intelligent  expression  to  the 
thoughts  of  the  composer.  Mendelssohn's 
influence  was  felt  chiefly  through  his  per- 
formance of  works  of  masters  greater  than 
himself,  and  Schumann's  in  the  amount  of 
poetical  material  with  which  he  enriched  the 
literature  of  the  instrument,  but  Chopin  and 
Liszt  revolutionized  piano -forte  playing. 
Chopin's  compositions  abound  in  innovations. 
Player  j,  even  the  most  skilful,  trained  only 
in  the  older  methods  found  their  technique 
quite  inadequate  to  the  rendering  of  Chopin's 
music.  His  extended  and  irregular  arpeggios, 
which  sometimes  compel  the  passing  of  the 
thumb  under  the  little  finger,  or  the  little  fin- 
ger over  the  thumb,  irregular  grouping  of 
three,  four,  five,  seven  or  more  notes  against 


Piano-forte  Playing  195 

two  or  three,  and  much  of  the  delicate  and 
fantastic  ornamentation  of  his  melodies  are 
entirely  original.  But  his  greatest  innova- 
tions were  in  the  use  of  the  pedal,  upon  which 
his  most  poetic  effects  depend.  The  older 
pianists  used  the  pedal  very  sparingly  ;  most 
of  their  music  can  be  played  just  as  well  with- 
out it,  but  its  aid  is  indispensable  to  the 
rendering  of  Chopin's  sustained  melodies. 
Chopin,  moreover,  utilized  its  capacity  for 
beautifying  tone  by  allowing  the  sympathetic 
vibrations  of  related  strings.* 

If  any  key  of  the  piano  is  struck  and  the 
tone  prolonged  by  holding  the  key  down — 
that  is,  by  keeping  the  damper  raised  from 
the  single  string — as  the  tone  dies  away  it  loses 
not  only  in  force  but  also  in  quality.  But  if 
the  same  key  is  struck  while  all  the  dampers 
are  raised  by  the  pedal,  as  the  tone  dies  away 
it  becomes  richer  and  fuller,  gathering  into 
itself  the  sympathetic  vibrations  of  all  the 
strings  to  which  it  is  related  through  its  har- 
monic chord.  Chopin's  recognition  of  the  ef- 
fects to  be  obtained  from  this  use  of  the  pedal 
enabled  him  to  add  the  charm  of  increased 
tonal  beauty  to  his  seductive  melodies  and 
fascinating  harmonies;  and  these  effects  have 

*  See  Introduction. 


196  Music 

become  the  common  property  of  all  later 
composers  for  the  piano-lorte. 

Chopin's  playing  was  characterized  by  a 
novel  freedom  of  rhythm,  which  he  often  in- 
dicated by  the  direction  '  tempo  rubato  ' — in 
consequence  of  which  he  has  suffered  so  much 
at  the  hands  of  sentimental  amateurs.  Of 
this,  his  own  peculiarly  characteristic  manner 
of  performance,  it  has  been  said  that  "  the 
measure  wavered,  rose  and  fell  like  a  flame 
touched  with  the  living  breath."  Liszt  com- 
pares it  to  tree-tops  stirred  by  the  breeze 
while  their  trunks  are  still  immovably  rooted 
in  the  ground.  Rubato  playing  is  one  of 
those  artistic  inexactitudes  which  in  all  de- 
partments distinguish  the  superstructure  of 
art  from  its  foundation  of  mathematics — too 
slight  to  impair  the  accuracy  of  the  outline, 
yet  imparting  life  and  warmth  to  the  cold 
calculation  of  the  design. 

To  Franz  Liszt  is  due  the  present  amazing 
development  of  piano-forte  virtuosity.  The 
stories  of  his  performances  and  of  the  charm 
by  which  he  held  his  hearers  spellbound  read 
almost  like  the  ancient  myths  that  tell  of  the 
miraculous  power  of  tone.  The  immense  de- 
velopment which  the  art  of  piano-forte  play- 
ing received  at  his  hands  brought  about  a 


Piano-forte  Playing  197 

complete  revolution  in  technique,  in  thelitera- 
ture,  and  in  the  construction  of  the  instrument 
itself;  his  enormous  muscular  force,  which 
would  have  annihilated  the  instruments  of  an 
earlier  day,  necessitating  an  increased  power 
of  resistance  in  all  parts  of  the  mechanism. 
Liszt's  compositions  are  full  of  technical  and 
tonal  effects  which,  though  familiar  to  the 
present  generation,  were  in  his  day  entirely 
novel.  In  fingering  he  scarcely  recognizes 
any  difference  between  the  black  and  white 
keys,  using  the  thumb  and  little  finger  as 
freely  upon  one  as  upon  the  other.  For  trills 
in  double  thirds  or  sixths  or  octaves  he  often 
uses  both  hands.  His  transcriptions  of  violin 
passages  exhibit  technical  figures  never  be- 
fore applied  to  the  piano,  and  in  his  arrange- 
ments  of  orchestral  works  he  expands  the 
chords  to  such  impossible  dimensions  as  to 
compel  the  passing  of  one  hand  over  the  other 
for  the  extreme  tones — making  their  success 
ful  performance  possible  only  by  a  skilful  use 
of  the  pedal.  The  majority  of  Liszt's  special 
effects  depend  upon  the  co-operation  of  the 
pedal,  and  through  his  utilization  of  what  was 
long  considered  an  almost  useless  part  of  the 
instrument,  he  opened  many  new  possibilities 
to  composers.    What  an  important  factor  the 


198  Music 

pedal  is  in  modern  piano-forte  playing  we  all 
know,  but  possibly  we  do  not  realize  how  it 
has  revolutionized  the  style  of  composing  for 
that  instrument.  Its  use  as  illustrated  in 
Liszt's  transcriptions  and  arrangements  so 
multiplies,  as  it  were,  the  fingers  of  the  player 
that  every  note  of  a  whole  orchestral  score 
may  be  represented  on  the  key-board  ;  and 
all  later  composers  of  piano-forte  music  have 
profited  by  Liszt's  revelation  of  the  possibili- 
ties of  the  damper  pedal. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  development  of 
piano-forte  technique  beyond  that  repre- 
sented by  Liszt's  performance  and  demanded 
by  his  compositions.  In  a  letter  written  at 
the  height  of  his  fame  he  says  :  "  It  remains 
my  firm  resolution  to  renounce  the  piano- 
forte only  when  I  shall  have  accomplished 
on  it  all  that  is  possible  for  me  to  accomplish 
in  my  day."  Could  it  be  that  when  Liszt 
closed  his  career  as  a  virtuoso  he  felt  that  he 
had  indeed  developed  to  the  utmost  the  re- 
sources of  the  piano-forte  and  accomplished 
upon  it  all  that  was  possible  even  to  his 
genius?  None  of  the  disciples  he  trained  in 
the  school  at  Weimar  have  reached  the  height 
upon  which  the  master  stood;  the  greatest 
players  known  to  the  present  generation  have 


Piano-forte  Playing  199 

gone  no  farther,  and  it  seems  indeed  impossi- 
ble that  piano-forte  virtuosity — save  by  the 
aid  of  improved  mechanical  appliances,  such 
as  new  key-boards  which  remove  or  lessen 
physical  impediments — should  ever  be  de- 
veloped beyond  the  point  at  which  Liszt  left 
it. 


XI 

The  Orchestra 


THE  highest  and  most  perfect  exponent  of 
absolute  music — that  is,  music  not  associ- 
ated with  words — is  the  orchestra.  In  the 
ancient  Greek  theatre  the  orchestra  was  the 
semicircular  space  between  the  stage  and 
the  seats  of  the  spectators,  in  which  space 
dances  and  various  evolutions  were  per- 
formed by  the  chorus  to  the  accompaniment 
of  musical  instruments ;  and  the  correspond- 
ing space  in  a  modern  theatre  is  still  called 
the  orchestra.  But  in  modern  usage  the 
word  orchestra  is  chiefly  applied  to  a  body 
of  performers  upon  instruments  among  which 
those  of  the  violin  family  predominate  ;*  and, 
collectively,  to  the  instruments  upon  which 
they  play. 

*  A  body  of  performers  using  principally  wind  instruments 
is  generally  called  a  band. 

200 


The  Orchestra  201 


The  instruments  of  the  orchestra  are  usu- 
ally disposed  according  to  the  following 
plan  : 


Drums. 

Tubas.  o,- 

Trombones.  Trumpets.  % 


4> 

<V  Horns. 

?„  Clarinets.  Bassoons.  .$ 

%  Oboes.  Flutes.  ^ 


sr 


Violoncellos. 

Violins.  Violins. 

Conductor. 


Q 


Though  the  arrangement  is  arbitrary  and 
varies  somewhat  under  different  conductors, 
yet  the  same  general  plan  is  always  followed  : 
the  stringed  instruments  in  front  and  on  the 
sides,  the  reeds,  or  wood-wind,  instruments 
in  the  centre,  and  the  brass  and  drums  at  the 
back.  The  orchestra,  aside  from  the  instru- 
ments of  percussion,  naturally  divides  itself 
into  three  distinct  groups — strings,  wood- 
winds and  brass-winds.  In  each  of  these 
groups  the  tone  quality  appears,  as  it  were, 
in  different  shades  of  the  same  tint,  and  each 
group  is  complete  in  itself  and  capable  of 
expressing  perfect  and  independent  harmony. 


202  Music 


The  strings — that  is,  the  instruments  of  the 
violin  family  in  their  four  sizes,  violins,  violas, 
violoncellos  and  double  or  contra-basses — are 
the  most  important  of  these  groups.  All 
these  instruments  are  constructed  upon  the 
same  principle  and  played  in  the  same  man- 
ner ;  the  strings  are  set  in  vibration  by  means 
of  a  bow  held  in  the  right  hand,  while  the 
pitch  of  the  tone  is  fixed  by  stopping,  or 
shortening  the  vibrating  length  of  the  string, 
with  the  fingers  of  the  left.  In  all  stringed 
instruments  the  open  tone  of  the  lowest  string 
— that  is,  the  tone  obtained  from  the  whole 
length  of  the  string,  without  stopping — is,  of 
course,  the  lowest  tone  of  the  instrument; 
violin  *ne  hignest  tone  depends  very 

^  much    upon    the    skill    of   the 

EE=E=    player.  The  range  of  the  strings 
'    in  an  orchestra  is  from  EE,  the 


i 


lowest  tone  of  the  double-bass, 


— — to  about  g  of  the  violin,  though 

^  the    violin    can    produce  tones 

Double  bass.        beyQnd    fchis  wHch    are  no(-    un_ 

frequently  required  for  the  performance  of 
orchestral  compositions. '  In  a  string  quartet 
the  four  parts  or  voices — soprano,  alto,  tenor 
and  bass — are  represented  by  the  first  and 
second  violins,  viola  and  violoncello,  and  in 


The  Orchestra  203 

orchestral  music  the  double-bass  often  merely 
plays  the  'cello  part  an  octave  lower. 

The  quartet  of  wood-winds  consists  of  flute, 
oboe,  clarinet  and  bassoon.     The  flute,  in  its 
form  of   small  octave  flute,  or  piccolo,  pro- 
vides the  highest  tones  of 
the  orchestra — reaching  to 
A  in  altissimo.  _~ == 

The  music  for  the  piccolo  (5)  : 

is  usually,  for  convenience, 
written  an  octave  lower  than  it  is  intended 
to  sound ;  the  instrument  transposing   it  to 
the  desired  pitch. 

The  clarinet,  oboe  and  bassoon  are  all  reed 
instruments  ;  that  is,  their  tones  are  produced 
by  the  vibration  of  reeds — thin  slips  of  cane 
— inserted  in  the  mouth-piece  and  set  in  mo- 
tion by  the  breath  of  the  player.  The  some- 
what nasal  quality  of  their  tones  is  frequently 
characterized  as  reedy.  The  clarinet  and 
oboe  are  much  alike  in  shape  and  size,  but 
the  tone  of  the  former  is  produced  by  a  sin- 
gle vibrating  reed,  while  the  oboe  is  played 
with  a  double  reed — that  is,  two  thin  slips  of 
cane  bound  together  and  attached  to  a  short 
projecting  tube  of  metal. 

The  clarinet,  which  produces  some  of  the 
most  beautiful  tones  of  the  orchestra,  is  one 


204 


Music 


of  the  most  difficult  instruments  to  play.  It 
is  very  susceptible  to  atmospheric  variations, 
easily  put  out  of  tune  and  difficult  to  change 


MOUTHPIECE 
OF   CLARINET. 


MOUTHPIECE 
OF   OBOE. 


in  respect  to  pitch.  Because  of  the  difficulty 
of  producing  the  semitones,  different  clari- 
nets are  used  for  different  keys.  Three  are 
commonly  used  in  the  orchestra :  one  in  C, 
for  the  natural  key  ;  one  in  B  flat,  for  flat 
keys ;  and  one  in  A,  for  sharp  keys.  Since 
the  scale  of  the  B  flat  clarinet  provides  for 
two  flats,  in  the  scale  of  E  flat,  for  example, 
only  one  would  need  to  be  artificially  pro- 
duced, instead  of  three,  as  would  be  the  case 
if  the  clarinet  in  C — the  natural  scale — were 
used  ;  and,  in  like  manner,  the  clarinet  in  A 
provides  for   three  sharps,  lessening  by  so 


The  Orchestra  205 


many  the  number  of  those  to  be  artificially 
produced  in  scales  requiring  a  greater  num- 
ber. The  mechanism  is  the  same  in  all,  but 
the  pitch,  or  range  of  sounds,  is  different. 
The  note  C  will  on  the  C  clarinet  sound  as 
written,  but  on  the  B  flat  clarinet  C  will  sound 
B  flat,  and  on  the  A  clarinet  C  will  sound  A. 
Therefore,  the  part  for  the  B  flat  clarinet  is 
written  a  tone  higher  than  it  is  intended  to 
sound  ;  that  for  the  A  clarinet  a  tone  and  a 
half  (a  minor  third)  higher ;  and  the  clarinet 
to  be  used  is  indicated  by  the  composer — the 
instrument  transposing  the  tones  to  the  re- 
quired pitch.  So  that  a  melody  in  E  flat 
played  by  the  B  flat  clarinet  would  be  written 
in  the  key  of  F.  It  is  just  as  if  the  piano 
should  be  tuned  a  whole  tone  too  low ;  then 
an  accompaniment  to  a  song  in  the  key  of  C 
would  have  to  be  written  and  played  in  the  key 
of  D,  according  to  the  key-board  ;  or,  if  it  were 
tuned  a  tone  and  a  half  (a  minor  third)  too 
low — corresponding  to  the  clarinet  in  A — an 
accompaniment  to  a  song  in  the  key  of  C 
would  have  to  be  written  and  played  in  E  flat. 
The  corno  di  bassetto,  or  basset  horn,  is  a 
clarinet  of  lower  range  and  fuller  tone,  which 
sounds  every  note  a  fifth  lower  than  it  is 
written ;  its  part,  therefore,  is  always  written 


206 


Music 


a  fifth  higher  than  it  is  intended  to  be  heard. 
The  cor  anglais,  or  English  horn,  stands  in 
the  same  relation  to  the  ordinary  oboe,  and 
is  written  for  accordingly. 

The  bassoon,  which  is  a 
double-reed  instrument,  is  the 
natural  bass  of  the  wood-wind 
quartet.  The  double  or  contra- 
bassoon  bears  the  same  relation 
to  it  that  the  double-bass  does 
to  the  violoncello,  ranging  an 
octave  lower. 

The  brass  instruments  com- 
monly used  in  the  orchestra  are 
horns,  trumpets,  trombones  and 
tubas.  The  tones  which  these 
instruments  naturally  produce 
are  the  harmonics  of  the  lowest 
or  fundamental  tone,*  and  these, 
which  are  called  the  open  tones 
of  the  instrument,  are  obtained 
by  simply  blowing  with  greater 
or  less  force  into  the  mouth- 
piece. For  the  other  tones  of 
the  scale  it  is  necessary  to  par- 
tially close  the  aperture  of  the  bell — as  in  the 
horn — or  to  modify  the  length  of  the  tube; 

*  See  Introduction. 


The  Orchestra 


207 


either  by  piercing-  the  side  with  holes  which 
are  provided  with  keys — as  in  the  flute  and 
clarinet ;  or  by  sliding  one  portion  of  the  tube 
into  the  other  —  as  in  the  trombone;  or  by 
pistons — which  are  sections  of  tubes  moved 
up  and  down  by  keys.  In  addition,  the  tube 
itself  can  be  more  or  less  lengthened  by  means 
of  movable  pieces  called  crooks,  and  so  the 
instrument  tuned  to  any  de- 
sired pitch. 

The  French  horn  is  per- 
haps the  most  characteris- 
tic of  this  group  of  instru- 
ments. It  was  originally  a 
hunting  horn,  and  when 
first  introduced  into  the 
orchestra  was  condemned 
as  coarse  and  vulgar.  To 
soften  the  tone  a  pad  or 
damper  was  inserted  in  the 
bell  of  the  instrument,  when  it  was  discovered 
that  partiallv  closing  the  aperture  raised  the 
pitch.  From  this  originated  the  method  of 
playing  with  the  hand  in  the  bell,  and  by  stop- 
ping with  the  fingers  obtaining  the  intermedi- 
ate tones  of  the  harmonic  scale.  The  tube  of 
the  horn  is  sixteen  feet  in  length  ;  its  natural 
key  is  C,  and  its  part  is  always  written  in 


208 


Music 


C.  It  can  be  made  to  play  in  other  keys, 
however,  by  the  addition  of  crooks,  which 
by  changing  the  length  of  the  tube  change 
its  pitch ;  and  the  composer  indicates  what 
crook  is  to  be  used — that  is,  in  what  key  the 
horns  are  to  play. 


The  trumpet,  like  the  horn,  produces  nat- 
urally only  the  tones  of  the  harmonic  series ; 
but  by  means  of  modern  contrivances — valves, 
etc.— the  intermediate  tones  may  be  obtained, 
and  the  pitch  may  be  changed  by  the  addition 
of  crooks. 

The  tones  of  the  trombone,  which  has  slides 


shortening  or  lengthening  its  tube,  are  not 
fixed,  but,  as  with  stringed  instruments,  de- 
pend upon  the  player,  who,  guided  by  his 
ear,  can  produce  upon  it  any  interval  within 
its  compass.  Therefore  it  is  not  usually  played 
from  transposed  parts,  like  the  horn,  clarinet 


The  Orchestra 


209 


and  other  instruments,  but  the  real  notes  are 
written. 

Tubas  are  the  bass  instruments  of  the  sax- 
horn family  —  so  called  from  a  celebrated 
manufacturer  and  inventor  of 
musical  instruments  named 
Sax.  They  are  the  largest  of 
the  brass,  and  are  all  fur- 
nished with  valves  and  made 
in  many  keys.  Indeed,  every 
brass  instrument  now  used  in 
the  orchestra  is  provided  with 
some  contrivance  which  en- 
ables it  to  produce  all  the 
tones  and    semitones   within  its  compass. 

The  drum  most  used  in  the  orchestra  is  a 
hollow    hemisphere   of    metal,    with    a   head 

of  vellum  fitted 
over  a  ring  hav- 
ing screws  which 
serve  to  tighten  or 
slacken  the  head, 
and  so  raise  or 
lower  the  pitch. 

There  are  usu- 
ally two  kettle- 
drums in  an  orchestra,  tuned  to  tonic  and 
dominant  of  the  key  ;  generally  the  dominant 


210  Music 

a  fourth  below  the  tonic,  but  sometimes  that 
a  fifth  above,  and  occasionally  the  drums  are 
tuned  to  the  tonic  and  its  octave.  Sometimes 
more  kettledrums,  or  drums  tuned  at  other  in- 
tervals, are  used  in  order  to  avoid  changing 
the  key — an  operation  which  requires  con- 
siderable time,  as  all  the  screws  have  to  be 
turned  in  succession,*  and  also  a  very  nice 
perception  of  pitch  on  the  part  of  the  drum- 
mer; since  the  drum  must  often  be  tuned  to 
one  key  while  the  rest  of  the  instruments  are 
still  playing  in  another. 

We  do  not  sufficiently  appreciate  those 
humbler  members  of  the  orchestra  whose 
conscientious  co-operation  enables  us  to  en- 
joy the  great  works  of  the  great  composers. 
When  we  have  listened  with  delight  to  a 
symphony  of  Beethoven  or  Schumann,  or  to 
a  music  drama  of  Wagner,  do  we  ever  think 
of  the  long  hours  of  monotonous  practice 
necessary  to  evoke  the  deep,  full  tones  of  the 
bassoon — of  the  swollen  and  blistered  lips 
which  are  the  first  reward  of  the  horn  player 
— of  the  care  and  skill  necessary  to  produce 
correctly  the   single   tones    of   those  instru- 

*  Owing  to  the  uneven  texture  of  the  vellum  mechanical  de- 
vices for  turning  the  screws  simultaneously  have  not  proved 
very  successful. 


Flauti. 


Oboi. 


SEVENTH  SYMPHONY. 

Dem  Reichsgrafen  Moritz  von  Frfes  gewidmet. 
Poco  sostenuto,  (Js69.) 


L.van  Beelhoyen,  Op.  92. 


tajfe 


Clarinetti  in  A. 


Fagotti. 


Corni  in  A. 


Trombe  in  D. 


Timpani  in  A.E, 


Violino  I. 


Violino  n. 


Viola. 


Violoncello. 


ContrabassoJ 


f  f  7 

CONDUCTOR'S  ORCHESTRAL  SCORE. 


The  Orchestra  213 

merits  which  have  no  independent  part  to 
play,  but  merely  enhance  the  effect  and 
beauty  of  the  whole?  It  would  seem  at  first 
thought  as  if  nothing  could  be  simpler  than 
to  tap  the  drum  at  the  first  beat  of  the  meas- 
ure— but  just  think  a  moment!  When  the 
baton  of  the  conductor  is  raised  to  give  the 
signal  for  beginning,  every  bow  is  ready  on 
the  string,  the  mouth-piece  of  every  wind  in- 
strument at  the  lips  of  the  player;  but  the 
drummer  has  his  stick  poised  in  the  air,  so 
far  away  from  the  head  of  the  drum  that  if  it 
were  to  begin  to  descend  at  the  moment  the 
conductor's  signal  is  given,  the  sound  would 
be  heard  after  the  other  instruments  and 
throw  the  whole  orchestra  into  confusion; 
so  that  the  drummer  really  has  to  learn  to 
play  out  of  time — to  anticipate,  as  it  were, 
the  beat  of  the  conductor.  While  we  revere 
the  genius  of  the  composer  and  admire  the 
power  of  the  leader  let  us  also  appreciate  the 
skill  and  devotion  of  the  obscure  performers 
whose  patient  practice  upon  difficult  and 
thankless  instruments  alone  makes  it  possible 
for  the  one  to  translate  for  us  into  audible 
language  the  thoughts  of  the  other. 

From  very  early  times  instruments  have 


214  Music 

been  used  not  only  singly  but  also  in  combi- 
nation. Egyptian  mural  paintings  show  bands 
of  instrumental  performers  under  leaders,  and 
in  ancient  literature  are  frequent  allusions  to 
instruments  of  different  kinds  which  seem  to 
indicate  that  they  were  used  together.  But 
from  what  we  know  of  ancient  music  it 
is  almost  certain  that  these  instruments  all 
played  the  same  melody  in  unison — or  per- 
haps an  octave  apart,  according  to  their 
range — and  that  real  concerted  music  was 
unknown. 

For  about  a  thousand  years  of  its  European 
development  also  music  was  strictly  unis- 
onal; but  after  the  invention  of  counter- 
point vocal  compositions  gradually  became 
more  and  more  elaborate  and  intricate,  until 
finally,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  stringed  in- 
struments came  to  be  used  in  secular  compo- 
sitions as  an  aid  to  the  voices.  These  instru- 
ments, viols  of  different  sizes,  simply  played 
each  in  unison  with  the  corresponding  voice. 
When  a  voice  was  lacking  the  part  was  rep- 
resented by  the  instrument  alone,  or,  some- 
times, only  one  part  was  sung  while  all  the 
others  were  played  ;  and  the  performance  of 
such  compositions  entirely  by  instruments, 
without  voices,  was  really  the  beginning  of 


The  Orchestra  215 


modern  concerted  music  and  the  germ  from 
which  the  orchestra  has  been  developed. 

Even,  however,  after  instrumental  music 
was  recognized  as  a  separate  branch  of  art,  the 
manner  of  writing  for  instruments  was  exact- 
ly the  same  as  for  unaccompanied  voices ;  and 
to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  instru- 
ments by  which  the  parts  were  to  be  played 
were  not  specified  by  the  composer.  The  di- 
rector simply  distributed  the  parts  according 
to  the  compass  of  the  instruments  at  his  dispo- 
sition, without  any  regard  to  the  quality  of 
their  tones.  For  a  long  while,  also,  the  differ- 
ent classes  of  instruments  were  kept  separate, 
being  used  in  alternation  instead  of  in  combi- 
nation ;  so  that  even  a  great  array  of  instru- 
ments could  scarcely  be  termed  an  orchestra. 

The  history  of  orchestration  really  begins 
with  the  seventeenth  century.  Orchestration, 
instrumentation,  scoring — terms  which  are 
virtually  synonymous — mean  the  manner  in 
which  the  various  instruments  of  the  orches- 
tra are  employed  by  the  composer,  as  indi- 
cated in  his  written  score,  to  produce  the 
tonal  effects  desired.  Different  styles  of  or- 
chestration may  mean  either  a  different  selec- 
tion of  instruments,  or  a  different  mode  of 
treating  the  same  selection  of  instruments,  or 


216  Music 

both  ;  and  the  present  aim  is  briefly  to  trace 
the  gradual  progress  of  this  branch  of  musi- 
cal art  from  its  first  crude  beginnings  to  its 
present  splendid  development,  as  illustrated 
in  the  works  of  Wagner  and  Tschaikowsky. 
The  first  oratorio,  '  L'Anima  e  Corpo,'  by 
Emilio  del  Cavaliere,  which  was  performed 
at  Rome  in  the  year  1600,  was  accompanied 
by  a  viol  di  gamba,  a  harpsichord,  a  double 
guitar  and  two  flutes.  This  little  band  was 
kept  entirely  out  of  sight,  like  Wagner's  or- 
chestra at  Bayreuth.  At  Florence,  in  the 
same  year,  the  first  opera,  '  Euridice,'  by 
Jacopo  Peri,  was  accompanied  by  a  harpsi- 
chord, a  viol  di  gamba,  a  large  guitar  and  a 
large  lute ;  these  instruments  also  were  hid- 
den from  the  view  of  the  audience.  But  less 
than  ten  years  later  Monteverde  employed 
for  the  accompaniment  of  '  Orfeo '  no  less 
than  thirty-five  instruments ;  a  heterogeneous 
array,  which,  however,  he  used  with  consid- 
erable skill.  Monteverde  (1 566-1650)  may 
really  be  regarded  as  the  father  of  the  mod- 
ern art  of  orchestration.  He  was  the  first  to 
perceive  that  the  tone-quality  of  the  different 
instruments  may  be  used  as  a  means  of  ex- 
pression ;  and  the  varying  combinations  of 
instruments  with  the  changes  in  the  dramatic 


The  Orchestra  217 

situation  in  '  Orfeo'  are,  Ambros  says,  the  first 
attempts  at  instrumentation. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  dramatic  music 
made  rapid  progress,  and  the  composition  of 
the  orchestra  gradually  became  settled  and 
more  orderly.  The  principal  instruments 
were  viols  of  various  kinds ;  the  thorough- 
bass being  played  by  the  largest  and  the 
chords  filled  out  on  the  harpsichord,  which 
was  always  the  centre  of  the  early  orchestra. 
Until  the  custom  of  beating  time  with  a  baton 
was  established — that  is,  until  the  present  cen- 
tury— the  conductor  always  presided  at  the 
harpsichord;  not  unfrequently — in  deference 
to  distinguished  listeners  in  the  audience — 
with  his  back  to  the  musicians.  The  modern 
conductor  plays  upon  his  orchestra  as  a  vir- 
tuoso does  upon  his  instrument.  He  en- 
deavors to  grasp  the  inner  meaning  of  the 
composer,  and  so  to  control  the  hundred  in- 
struments at  his  command  as  perfectly  to 
interpret  to  the  audience  his  individual  con- 
ception of  the  composition.  But  before  Beet- 
hoven's day  conducting  was  merely  time- 
keeping ;  which,  indeed,  was  all  that  was 
necessary  for  the  music  to  be  rendered. 

Before  the  close  of  the  century  the  violin 
had  become  the  leading  instrument,  and  com- 


218  Music 

posers  had  learned  to  use  the  string  quartet, 
the  foundation  of  the  orchestra,  almost  ex- 
actly as  it  is  used  to-day.  The  first  wind  in- 
struments added  to  the  strings  seem  to  have 
been  oboes  and  bassoons — both  of  which  the 
older  composers  used  in  far  greater  numbers 
than  we  ever  hear  at  the  present  time — but 
horns,  trumpets  and  flutes  soon  followed. 
The  wind  instruments  were  at  first  used 
merely  to  give  greater  fulness  of  tone  by 
playing  in  unison  with  the  strings,  but  in  the 
scores  of  Bach  (1685-1750)  and  Handel  (1685— 
1759)  they  begin  to  have  real  parts  and  often 
long,  independent  solo  passages. 

At  first  the  orchestral  overture  or  sym- 
phony was  known  only  in  connection  with 
the  drama.  The  word  symphony  had  no  defi- 
nite signification  in  regard  to  form,  but  was 
applied  to  any  purely  instrumental  portions 
of  a  vocal  work.  Introductions,  interludes 
and  dances  were  alike  termed  symphonies ; 
the  overture  being  distinguished  as  the  '  Sin- 
fonia  avanti  l'Opera.'  These  instrumental 
passages  were  not  considered  very  impor- 
tant, and  composers  had  small  encourage- 
ment to  bestow  much  labor  or  pains  upon  this 
portion  of  their  work.  Dr.  Burney  tells  how 
little  attention  the  '  people  of  quality  '  gave  to 


The  Orchestra  219 


the  music  of  an  opera,  aside  from  some  favor- 
ite air  or  the  performance  of  a  celebrated 
singer.  He  says  :  "  The  music  at  the  theatres 
in  Italy  seems  but  an  excuse  for  people  to  as- 
semble together,  their  attention  being  chiefly 
placed  on  play  and  conversation  even  during 
the  performance  of  a  serious  opera  ; " — for  the 
gaming-tables  were  an  inseparable  adjunct 
of  the  opera-house,  and  the  impressario  of  the 
latter  was  often  also  the  lessee  of  the  former. 
Naturally,  therefore,  composers  did  not  ex- 
pend much  labor  upon  the  instrumental  por- 
tions of  their  works,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
so-called  symphonies  began  to  be  played  as 
separate  pieces  in  concerts  that  we  find  any 
real  development  of  the  art  of  orchestration. 
These  '  independent  symphonies  '  became 
extremely  popular,  and  great  numbers  of  them 
were  composed  in  the  first  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  They  are  generally  scored 
for  two  violins,  viola  and  violoncello,  a  pair 
of  oboes,  or  flutes,  and  two  horns.  These 
early  symphonies,  which  were  almost  as  fre- 
quently styled  overtures,  were  in  one  move- 
ment only — or,  rather,  in  three  connected 
movements.  It  was  Haydn  (1732-1809)  who 
separated  the  three  movements  and  inter- 
polated a  fourth — the  minuet. 


220  Music 

Haydn's  first  symphonies  were  written  for 
the  earlier  little  group  of  instruments — the 
four  strings,  two  oboes  and  two  horns — but 
as  new  instruments  were  invented  or  old 
ones  improved  he  gradually  added  others 
and  began  experiments  in  grouping  them  to 
produce  new  effects.  Haydn's  great  influence 
upon  the  development  of  orchestration  was 
largely  due  to  the  opportunities  afforded  by 
his  long  connection  with  the  extensive  musi- 
cal establishment  maintained  by  Prince  Es- 
terhazy.  He  is  somewhere  described  as 
making  experiments  in  instrumentation  and 
ringing  the  bell  for  the  band  to  come  and  try 
them,  and  though  this  is  doubtless  an  exag- 
geration, he  certainly  enjoyed  unusual  facil- 
ities for  testing  his  works. 

But  Haydn  probably  would  not  have 
reached  his  highest  development  without 
the  influence  of  Mozart  (1756-91),  his  brilliant 
contemporary.  Mozart,  who  was  but  three 
years  old  when  Haydn  wrote  his  first  sym- 
phony, was,  very  naturally,  at  first  much  un- 
der his  influence.  "  It  was  from  Haydn," 
said  he, "  that  I  learned  the  true  way  to  com- 
pose quartets."  But  Mozart's  precocious 
genius  rapidly  outran  the  older  composer, 
and  Haydn's  best  symphonies,  the  works  of 


The  Orchestra  22 1 

his  old  age,  show  plainly  the  influence  of 
Mozart.  Haydn  and  Mozart,  who  together 
fixed  the  form  of  the  symphony,  did  much 
also  for  the  development  of  orchestration. 
In  their  compositions  the  wind  instruments, 
instead  of  being  entirely  subordinated  to  the 
strings,  excepting  in  distinctly  solo  passages, 
become  more  independent,  are  treated  more 
characteristically,  and  used  to  provide  effects 
of  contrast  rather  than  merely  increased 
strength  of  tone.  In  the  works  of  Haydn 
and  Mozart  the  balance  between  wind  and 
strings  is  first  definitely  established.* 

In  the  eighteenth  century  a  symphony  was 
a  very  slight  work — composers  wrote  them 
by  the  dozen.  The  standard  of  performance 
was  extremely  rough  and  audiences  not  criti- 
cal, and  it  was  not  thought  either  unjust  to 
the  work  or  disrespectful  to  the  composer  to 
divide  a  symphony,  playing  one-half  at  the 
beginning-  of  a  concert  and  the  other  half  at 
the  close.  The  length,  as  well  as  the  com- 
position of  the  programmes,  excites  our  won- 
der. Three  symphonies,  a  couple  of  over- 
tures, a  concerto  and  half  a  dozen  smaller 

*  It  was  Mozart  who  introduced  the  clarinet  into  the  orches- 
tra. In  one  of  his  letters  he  says  :  "  You  cannot  imagine  the 
splendid  effect  of  a  symphony  with  flutes,  oboes  and  clarinets." 


222  Music 

pieces  were  not  unusual,  and  concerts  some- 
times lasted  four  or  five  hours.  When  Beet- 
hoven's fourth  symphony  was  first  produced 
it  was  preceded  by  all  the  other  three;  and 
even  such  great  works  as  these  were  often 
given  in  public  with  very  insufficient  prepara- 
tion. Orchestral  music  has  never  been  so 
well  performed  as  it  is  to-day. 

Haydn,  who  wrote  his  first  symphony  when 
such  a  composition  was  of  little  more  impor- 
tance than  a  string  quartet,  lived  to  hear 
Beethoven's  '  Eroica' — an  immense  develop- 
ment to  be  spanned  by  one  lifetime.  Beetho- 
ven (1770-1827)  greatly  expanded  the  form 
of  the  symphony,  and  developed  the  art  of 
orchestration  with  indefatigable  effort.  Such 
a  worker  as  Beethoven  the  world  has  rarely 
seen.  His  sketch-books  bear  record  to  the 
devotion  with  which  he  labored  at  his  com- 
positions; some  portions  of  his  works  being 
rewritten  from  a  dozen  to  twenty  times. 
From  the  first  he  used  clarinets;  he  intro- 
duced the  trombone  into  the  symphonic  or- 
chestra and  increased  the  number  of  the 
horns  to  four.  He  was  the  first  to  use  the 
drum  as  an  independent  instrument,  instead 
of  merely  to  mark  the  rhythm,  and  another 
innovation  was  his  use  of  both  drums  together 


The  Orchestra  223 

in  chords.  He  also  subdivided  the  strings, 
which  before  his  day  had  seldom  been  used 
in  any  other  than  regular  four-part  harmony. 
Beethoven  acquired  a  wonderful  command 
of  the  orchestra,  and  his  compositions  abound 
in  new  combinations  and  tonal  effects  as  novel 
as  beautiful. 

Weber  (1 786-1 826),  who  used  the  orches- 
tra most  successfully  in  connection  with  the 
drama,  was  an  instrumentalist  of  the  first 
rank.  He  gave  an  increased  independence 
to  the  wood-wind  choir,  to  which  are  largely 
due  the  marvellous  effects,  now  weird  and 
mysterious,  now  exquisitely  fairylike,  of  his 
lovely  overtures.  Schubert  (1 797-1 828)  and 
Mendelssohn  (1809-47)  also  produced  nov- 
el and  delightful  effects  with  the  wind  in- 
struments. Berlioz  (1803-69),  who  wrote  a 
treatise  on  instrumentation  which  no  com- 
poser neglects  to  study,  acquired  such  a 
command  of  the  orchestra  that,  as  one  writer 
has  said,  he  played  upon  it  as  Paganini  on 
the  violin  or  Liszt  on  the  piano-forte. 

It  was  Richard  Wagner's  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  all  the  resources  of  the  orchestra 
which,  guided  by  his  instinct  for  dramatic 
effect,  enabled  him  to  use  it  with  such  un- 
precedented success  for  the  expression  of  the 


224  Music 

most  subtle  fancies  and  daring  flights  of  his 
genius.  He  largely  increased  the  number  of 
instruments,  especially  of  wind  instruments, 
and  to  him  is  chiefly  due  the  introduction  of 
the  deepest  toned  of  the  group  of  brass;  but 
the  exceptional  array  of  instruments  in  his 
scores  is  not  merely  for  increased  tonal 
power,  but  far  more  for  the  production  of 
special  effects.  He  completes  each  group  of 
wind  instruments  by  the  addition  of  others 
of  lower  range,  so  as  to  get  full  chords  from 
each  group  without  mixture  of  timbre  ;  and 
he  often  uses  his  most  imposing  array  of  brass 
for  the  production  of  piano  and  pianissimo 
effects. 

Since  the  time  of  Haydn  and  Mozart  the 
general  principles  upon  which  the  standard 
orchestra  is  composed  have  been  definitely 
established.  Now,  as  then,  the  orchestral 
forces  consist  of  strings,  wood-winds,  brass- 
winds  and  instruments  of  percussion ;  and 
of  these  the  stringed  band  forms  the  founda- 
tion, while  the  others  are  used  both  in  com- 
bination and  in  contrast.  But  the  art  of 
orchestration  has  undergone  countless  modi- 
fications. Every  new  instrument  introduced 
into  the  orchestra  and  every  improvement 
either  in  compass,  quality  of  tone,  or  execu- 


The  Orchestra  225 


tive  powers  of  the  instruments  already  in  use, 
make  possible  and  result  in  an  endless  variety 
of  new  combinations. 

During  the  past  two  centuries  stringed  in- 
struments have  suffered  little  change,  but, 
with  the  exception  of  the  trombone  and  bas- 
soon, every  wind  instrument  has  been  com- 
pletely metamorphosed.  The  wood-winds 
have  become  more  powerful  in  tone  and  more 
true  in  pitch,  and  the  scale  of  the  brass-winds 
has  been  completed  by  the  introduction  of 
valves.  The  capacity  of  stringed  instruments, 
also,  has  been  greatly  increased  by  the  supe- 
rior technique  of  modern  orchestral  players, 
who  are  to-day  expected  to  execute  what 
would  have  been  considered  bravura  passages 
for  solo  players  a  hundred  years  ago. 

But  the  manner  of  writing  for  instruments 
has  changed  far  more  than  the  instruments 
themselves.  Instead  of  being  used  only  in 
distinct  groups,  these  are  now  combined  and 
subdivided  in  almost  every  conceivable  way. 
Prior  to  Beethoven  the  strings  were  used  al- 
most without  exception  only  in  four-part 
harmony — in  '  Tristan  and  Isolde  '  Wagner 
divides  the  violins  alone  into  sixteen  separate 
groups.  On  the  other  hand,  where  the  older 
composers  would  have  dispersed  the  strings 


226  Music 

among  three  or  four  parts  of  the  harmony 
Wagner  often  concentrates  nearly  all  of  them 
upon  a  single  part;  balancing  in  this  way  an 
increased  number  of  wind  instruments,  the 
proportion  of  which  in  the  modern  orchestra 
is  often  nearly  double  what  it  was  in  Beetho- 
ven's day. 

The  greater  power  and  brilliancy  of  the 
modern  orchestra  are  not  due  solely  to  the 
employment  of  a  greater  number  of  instru- 
ments. They  are  in  a  much  larger  measure 
the  result  of  an  increased  knowledge  of  the 
use  of  those  instruments,  and  the  opportuni- 
ties which  improvements  in  their  mechanism 
afford  the  composer. 

A  distinguished  man  once  refused  to  let 
his  son  study  music  upon  the  ground  that  it  is 
an  unintellectual  pursuit.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  well-known  critic  says  that  the  score  of  one 
of  Wagner's  music-dramas  seems  to  him  the 
highest  achievement  of  the  human  intellect. 
It  certainly  cannot  be  denied  that  music  may 
be,  indeed,  often  is,  studied  after  an  unintel- 
lectual fashion ;  but  it  is  equally  certain  that 
no  one  can  master  even  the  mechanical  de- 
tails of  orchestration — the  qualities  and  capa- 
bilities of  the  different  instruments,  the  meth- 


The  Orchestra  227 

ods  of  writing  in  the  various  clefs  and  the 
transpositions  necessary  for  the  wind  instru- 
ments— without  a  very  high  degree  of  intel- 
lectual capacity,  leaving  entirely  out  of  con- 
sideration the  question  of  musical  talent  or 
genius.  And  when  we  remember  that,  having 
mastered  all  these  mechanical  details,  the 
composer  works,  not  like  the  painter  or 
sculptor  from  carefully  selected  models,  but 
absolutely  originates  his  own  ideas,  evolves 
and  develops  them  entirely  from  his  own 
inner  consciousness,  it  seems  impossible  to 
deny  that  the  creation  of  a  great  orchestral 
work  is  an  achievement  of  the  highest  intel- 
lect combined  with  the  greatest  genius. 


For  the  privilege  of  reproducing  the  illustrations  of 
rare  old  instruments  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Morris 
Steinert,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  the  author  is  indebted  to 
the  courtesy  of  the  owner. 


UJ         Ji 

I-       o 


ITALIAN   VIRGINAL   (SIXTEENTH   CENTURY). 

South  Kensington  Museum. 


HARPSICHORD  (END  OF   SIXTEENTH  CENTURY). 
Museum  of  the  Paris  Conservatory. 


z    -a 


Index 


INDEX 


yEOLiAN  scale,  23 
Allemande,  135 

Alternative  136 
Answer,  of  fugue,  132 
Arabian  scale,  75 
Aria,  92,  97,  98 
Artificial  voices,  97 
Authentic  modes,  27  et  seq. 

Bach,  C.  P.  E.,  145,  168, 1S6 
Bach,  J.  S.,  62,  118,  119,  163,  183, 

184,  218 
Bar,  47  et  seq. 
Basso  continuo,  179,  180 
Bassoon,  206 
Bebung,  168 
Beethoven,    103,     120,    141,    146, 

147,  190,  222,  223,  225 
Berlioz,  223 
Binary  form,  141,  145 
Bourree,  136 

Canon,   62  et  seq.  ;  cancrizans, 

64 
Canto  fermo,  57 
Cavalieri,  Emilio  del,  114 
Cavalli,  91 
Chaconne,  137 
Cherubini,  102 
Chest  of  viols,  125 


Chopin,  194  et  seq. 

Chorale,  117 

Chords  of  the  seventh  and  ninth, 

89 
Christofori,  Burtolomei,  170 
Clarinet,  203  et  seq.,  221,  222 
Classical  music,  104;  composers, 

105 
Clavecin,  165 
Clavichord,    148     et    seq.,     185; 

gebunden,  153 ;  bundfrei,  153 
Clavier,  123 
Clefs,  35 
Clementi,  189 
Close  and  half-close,  129 
Coda,  140 
Conducting,  217 
Contrapuntal  music,  55  et  seq. 
Cor  anglais,  206 
Corno  di  bassetto,  205 
Counterpoint,  55  et  seq. 
Couperin,  183,  184 
Courante,  136 

Discant,  56,  57 

Dissonance,  prepared,  90 

Dorian  scale,  22 

Dot,  47,  48 

Dufay,  Guillaume,  62 

Dulcimer,  170 


251 


252 


Index 


Ear,  11 

Ecclesiastical  scales,  28,  79  et  seq. 
Enharmonic,  24,  162 
Episode,  133,  142 
Exposition  of  fugue,   132  ;  of  so- 
nata, 138 

Fantasia,  or  free  part,  138,  139 
Field,  John,  192 
Figured  bass,  179,  180 
Fingering,  180  et  seq.,  184,   187, 

194,  197 
First  movement  form,  137 ;  plan 

of,  138  ;  in  minor,  139  ;  in  early 

sonatas,  145 
Flute,  203 

Force  of  musical  tone,  6 
Form  in  music,  127  et  seq. 
Franco  of  Cologne,  45 
Fugue,  131  et  seq. ;  plan  of,  134 
Fundamental  bass,  94,  95 

Gavotte,  136 

Gigue,  136 

Gluck,  98  et  seq. 

Greek  music,  20  et  seq.  ;  drama, 
20,  83;  scales,  21  etseq.;  no- 
tation, 21,  33 

Ground  bass,  137 

Guerre  des  Bouffons,  95,  96 

Guido  d'  Arezzo,  37  et  seq.,  151 

Handel,  62,  118,  218 

Harmonic  chord,  7 

Harmonics,  6  et  seq.;    influence 

upon  tone,  9 
Harpsichord,  148,  163  etseq.,  185, 

217 


Haydn,    119,    120,   141,    145,    188, 

219  et  seq. 
Hearing,  11  et  seq. 
Hebrew  music,  19 
Hexachord,  40  et  seq. 
Homophonic  music,  70,  84,  85 
Horn,  207,  222 
Hucbaldus,  36,  56 
Hungafian  scale,  "jj 
Hymn,  116,  117 

Imitations,  132 
Instruments,  earliest,   18  ;  of  or- 
chestra, 201 
Intermezzo,  95 
Ionian  scale,  23 
Italian  opera,  origin  of,  84 

Jack,  148,  163 
Josquin  des  Pres,  65,  66 

Keiser,  93 
Kettledrum,  209,  222 
Kuhnau,  144 

Lassus,  67 
Leading  motives,  109 
Leading  note,  80,  81 
Liszt,  194,  196  et  seq. 
Locrian  scale,  23 
Lulli,  93,  94 
Lute,  122,  123 
Lydian  scale,  23 

Madrigal,  69,  70,  125 
Measured  chant,  45 
Meistersinger,  52 
Mendelssohn,  120,  194,  223 
Meruio,  Claudio,  176 


Index 


253 


Meyerbeer,  102 

Minnesinger,  52 

Minstrels,  50 

Minuet,  136,  141 

Mixolydian  scale,  23 

Monochord,  149,  150,  152,  154 

Monodic  music,  70,  84,  85 

Monteverde,  88  etseq.,  216 

Motive,  130 

Mozart,    101,   102,  145,  188,  220, 

221 
Music,  in  nature,  15  ;  printing,  66 
Musical  form,  127 

NEUM.E,  33 
Notation,  32  et  seq. 
Notes,  45,  46 

Oboe,  203 

Orchestration,  215,  224  et  seq. 

Organ,  30  et  seq.;  point,  133 

Organum,  56 

Oriental  music,  6  et  seq. 

Overture,  94 

Palestrina,  70  et  seq. 

Partial  tones,  (set  seq. 

Partita,  135  et  seq. 

Passecaille,  137 

Passion  music,  118 

Pedal,  169,    195,197,  198;  point, 

133 
Pentatonic  scale,  76  et  seq. 
Peri,  88 
Period,  128 
Phrygian  scale,  23 
Piano-forte,  170  et  seq.;  190 
Piccolo,  203 
Pitch  of  musical  tone,  5 


Plagal  modes,  27  et  seq. 
Plain-chant,  47 
Plain-song,  32 

Polyphonic  music,  70,  85,  131 
Primary  form,  141 
Programmes,  221 
Psaltery,  161,  163 
Purcell,  93 

Quality  of  musical  tone,  6 

Rameau,  94,  160 

Romantic    opera,     104 ;     music, 

104 ;  composers,  105 
Rondo,  142 
Rossini,  103 
Rubato  playing,  196 

Saraeande,  136 

Scarlatti,  Alessandro,  92 

Scarlatti,  Domenico,  183 

Scherzo,  141 

Schubert,  223 

Schumann,  194 

Sclhitz,  93 

Score,  48  ;  orchestral,  211 

Section,  129 

Sequence,  130 

Silbermann,  171,  172 

Slow  movement,  141 

Solmization,  13 

Sonata,    137  et  seq.;  da  chiesa, 

143  ;  da  camera,  143 
Sonatina,  139 
Song-form,  141 
Sound  waves,  3,  4 
Spinet,  148,  164 
Spontini,  102 
Stretto,  133 


254 


Index 


Strings,  202,  223,  225 
Subject,  128  ;  of  fugue,  131 
Suite,  135  et  seq. 
Symphony,  137,  218 
Syren,  5 

Tablaturk,  48,  49 
Tangent,  149,  164 
Temperament,  156  et  seq. 
Tetrachord,  21 
Thalberg,  193 
Thoroughbass,  179,  180 
Time  signatures,  46,  47 
Triads,  89 
Trio,  136 
Trombone,  208,  221 


Troubadours,  50  ct  seq. 
Trumpet,  208 
Tuba,  209 

Vecchi,  Orazio,  86 
Verdi,  103 
Viol,  123  et  seq.,  214 
Virginal.  164 
Volkslied,  105,  106,  117 

Wagner,  106  et  seq.,   223,   224, 

225 
Weber,  104  et  seq.,  223 
Willaert,  69 
Working  out,  138 

Zarlino,  81,  158 


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